I will have a Chemistry degree from a top 20 (though lesser known) university. I don’t know or much like Chemistry though. Biology is ok. Healthcare is ok. What I am REALLY interested in is neuroscience/mindfulness/meditation (very important tool to lessen suffering), neurotechnology more broadly, startups, mental health, maybe AI/ML (though it’s over my head right now).
All of these are very broad and far-mode topics. What specific puzzles fascinate you? What style of problems do you enjoy the mechanics of solving? If you don’t know, then what haven’t you tried?
Once you’ve identified some analytical and problem-solving tools you enjoy, then applying them to topics you care about becomes feasible. Major bonus if these aren’t the “common” tools in that space, and you can combine two or more disciplines. For a lot of things, this is far more productive than trying to get good enough to make a difference in an established pattern.
I was thinking of things like modeling, numeric analysis, various ML inference and clustering techniques. Building end-to-end tools like apps and websites. Some kinds of research summaries or publication searches to figure out the next step in a specific query.
Less so “software engineering” or “organizing people”, which are incredibly important, but too diffuse to actually do as a goal. They are things you’ll get good at while pursuing actual topics and deliverables you care about.
All of these are very broad and far-mode topics. What specific puzzles fascinate you? What style of problems do you enjoy the mechanics of solving? If you don’t know, then what haven’t you tried?
Once you’ve identified some analytical and problem-solving tools you enjoy, then applying them to topics you care about becomes feasible. Major bonus if these aren’t the “common” tools in that space, and you can combine two or more disciplines. For a lot of things, this is far more productive than trying to get good enough to make a difference in an established pattern.
Can you give some examples of problem-solving tools? Are examples modeling using differential equations, software engineering, organizing people?
I was thinking of things like modeling, numeric analysis, various ML inference and clustering techniques. Building end-to-end tools like apps and websites. Some kinds of research summaries or publication searches to figure out the next step in a specific query.
Less so “software engineering” or “organizing people”, which are incredibly important, but too diffuse to actually do as a goal. They are things you’ll get good at while pursuing actual topics and deliverables you care about.