August was largely a month to relax and recharge a little bit. I continued to prioritize taking care of myself and setting aside time for working out. When I'm taking care of myself everything else around me improves. There are a couple of projects at work that I'm excited about that I've been investing more time into. So work on side projects was a little light this month. And that's okay!
Morning and nights have started to become chilly, which means fall is arriving! I am going to enjoy everything apples, soups, and football over the next few months! You cannot underestimate how much I love fall!
What I've been building...
A little bit of a light month on the building front. I pushed an update to RecipeSnap where I switched from OpenAI to Claude and fixed a few bugs related to that change.
What I've been thinking about...
I decided to learn more PyTorch. Most of my machine learning experience from my time as a data scientist was implementing traditional machine learning algorithms (i.e. random forests, SVMs, gradient boosting etc.) So much has changed in the machine learning ecosystem since then so I want to upskill and learn more about PyTorch. I've been consistent with learning and practicing, but still looking for my own project to apply some of what I've learning.
One resource I've found helpful is Luka Ditria's PyTorch Deep Learning Series. I appreciate the depth of the series and how the videos are split into my digestible chunks that can be watched over time.
Not directly related to PyTorch, but deep learning related, I've really enjoyed watching content from AI Coffee Break, especially the video on transfomers! Letitia presents the content in such an approachable manner. Highly recommend checkout out her channel!
What I've been reading:
Building a Generative AI Platform- if you're building an AI app of any kind of scale this article is recommended to make sure you've considered these points to scale efficiently and economically. Bookmarked this one because I'll definitely be revisiting.
Enhancing LLM-as-a-Judge with Grading Notes- I enjoy these stories of how concepts are applied in industry.
You're closer to the top than you think- consistency matters.
How I Use "AI"- yes, there are things AI cannot do, but there are a lot of tasks AI can do that can bring incredible value. Do read the whole thing.
My Digital Life After Having a Baby- Big same here. Becoming a a parent when working in tech is challenging (become a parent period is a challenge!) Similar to Chris when I became a father I still wanted to do all the same things I did in my free time like working on fun side projects, but the amount of time I had available for that work was suddenly scarce. Ultimately I learned to become a better planner and note taker. When I do find time to commit to learning or fun programming I make sure I have a plan so I can maximize that time. So far it's worked pretty well!
Peloton Stats
Perfect month! A few highlights for the month:
- The first 60 minute ride I've ever done!
- Third time I've had a 30 day streak or longer.
- I set my post-diagnosis PR... three times! It's still only 80% of my pre-diagnosis PR, but it's progress!
Running is still a challenge. I need to get out and run more frequently, but I'm happy with the progress. Let's keep it going next month!
Active Days: 31
Total Classes: 68
Workout Time: 1,098 minutes