New Horizons

So, most people know by now that in a week’s time I start a new role.  After 12 years of working for established business both small and large I am joining a start up in an area at the current edge of what is possible in computer science.  I’m very much looking forward to having my technical and scientific abilities stretched as far as they’ll go and, not unsurprisingly, the immersion in a new venture where the focus is on the solution and not why things can’t be done (often the case in established companies).

I have a reading list as long as the references for my own thesis to get through in the next few weeks so I can become an expert in my new field: deep learning and artificial intelligence.  One of the first things I’ll be doing is attending the ReWorkDL summit in Boston, MA, which is just a fascinating line up of some of the leading people in this space.  All being well I will be presenting at the 2016 summit.

I’ll be tweeting throughout the event with thoughts and comments and will do a summary post afterwards.

Taking my degree seriously?

I have to say it – I’m three modules in to my OU degree and, while I regularly promise to set aside time for study, I always find myself doing no more that a three hour tutorial and then a further 3-6 hours doing the assignments and this has done the trick so far.  There’s always something that gets in the way and eats up that time – something I’d rather be doing… and it’s not because I’m not enjoying it – I love maths and am somewhat annoyed with myself that I’m missing out on the richness of the OU course by cutting straight to the specific examples I need to complete the coursework.

So why am I not doing the work?  Possibly the key reason is that I am currently able to get away with it.  Why spend more time when I can do what I’m doing and get distinctions?  Surely this is an efficient use of my time.  I’m hardly a role model to students anywhere by doing this… but I doubt I’m the first.

Continue reading Taking my degree seriously?

Creating a 3D printer

At the start of 2015 I saw an innocuous sponsored tweet in my twitter feed for a week by week build your own 3D printer.  I’ve wanted one for a while but never really felt I could justify the cost on a toy… and then I saw the opportunity to build one myself and spread the cost… I used to spend more on coffee in a week so the justification was made and I signed up.

The printer I’m building is from 3D Create and Print who haven’t endorsed or sponsored anything in this blog.  Each issue comes with a part for the printer and a magazine with a design, with occasional extra free gifts.  I now have the first 11 issues, which includes the power adapter, so it’s probably a good time to start putting the parts together.

I’ll be filming how to assemble the printer along with a blog of any gotchas since, as anyone who has ever assembled flat pack furniture knows, sometimes just following the instructions isn’t always enough 🙂