The non-technical AI guy is on fire: He doesn't have an ML degree, but he got an offer from DeepMind

DeepMind has two teams.

1. the core R&D team. This is purely research-based, with projects such as AlphaFold and AlphaGo as examples. Within this team, research engineers work on other projects that may involve collaborating with research scientists to implement certain research ideas.

2. Applications team. Some of the projects worked on include data centre energy saving projects, improving the Google App Store recommendation system, WaveNet, Android energy saving.

Xiao applied for the position of Research Engineer. Being able to join DeepMind means that the person should have a solid knowledge base of the subject.

Without any published papers, and without previous projects and work experience, it's unlikely that Xiao would have gotten this interview at DeepMind. He told the audience that even the best people can be rejected by the tech giants, so there is no need to put too much pressure on yourself.

He shared some interview tips that he had prepared for.

1. Study each interviewer carefully. Find out about their professional background and if possible read their papers (at least read the one that has been cited the most times) so that you can help ask relevant questions.

2. Understand every project mentioned in the CV. So that you can discuss them in depth with the interviewer.

3. Mock interviews.

I also studied the AGI and read relevant cutting-edge papers around DeepMind's tone.

The DeepMind research engineer post has a total of first communication, interviews, quizzes, programming tests, leadership interviews and other steps. It is advisable to prepare for these early, as the interview day came before Xiao had a chance to finish holding the Buddha's feet.

In the sixth interview, Xiao was unfortunately passed. He was given another interview for the incubation/application department. After another good preparation, the offer was made.

It was good to see that the subsequent interview made him realise that the incubation team was a better fit for him.