from Hacker News

Show HN: Insight AI – 7 week fellowship for scientists and engineers

by jakek on 10/7/16, 4:01 PM with 28 comments

• by jakek on 10/7/16, 4:02 PM

  Founder of Insight here (YC W11). Since 2012 we've been running free fellowships to help PhDs transition to roles in data science [1] and more recently health data [2]. Similarly, since 2014, we have been helping professional software engineers learn and move into data engineering roles [3]. Over 750 Insight alums now work as data scientists & engineers at 200+ companies.

  This past year, we've seen more highly specialized applied AI / deep learning roles emerge in the industry. We're also increasingly receiving applications from scientists and engineers who have some machine learning experience and are learning to build out sophisticated deep learning models during their time at Insight. The new Insight AI [4] program will focus on allowing Fellows with these backgrounds implement the latest ML techniques from research or contribute to open source projects under the guidance of industry leaders, then join AI teams in Silicon Valley and New York after the program. Insight AI will accept both software engineers and quantitative scientists (no PhD required).

  [1] Data Science: http://insightdatascience.com

  [2] Health Data: http://insighthealthdata.com

  [3] Data Engineering: http://insightdataengineering.com

  [4] Artificial Intelligence: http://insightdata.ai

• by yurisagalov on 10/7/16, 4:08 PM

  I've been following Insight since Jake was subleasing office space from us for his first class of fellows (there were six of them occupying ~500 sqft. Their Palo Alto office alone is >14,000 sqft now, I think), and from the very first class it felt like a very special program.

  I've come back to both mentor and hang out with their fellows every single batch since (I think I've been to 15 now), and it continues to amaze me just how incredible the people are, and how cool the community is.

  If you're thinking of a career in AI and you have some of the fundamentals they're looking for at https://www.insightdata.ai, you'd be crazy not to apply.

• by sqrt on 10/8/16, 12:47 AM

  Is there any advantage (e.g. higher likelihood of admission, or earlier notification) to applying earlier, assuming you apply by the deadline?

• by Eridrus on 10/7/16, 4:56 PM

  This is exciting for me personally since I've been working on building a portfolio to transition into a position where I can work on cutting edge DL/RL work, so I will certainly apply, though July feels so far away .

  Can you say which companies you have lined up to hire people in NYC?

  P.S. If anyone is looking to hire a research engineer before August of next year, my email is in my profile... :)

• by conjectures on 10/7/16, 5:43 PM

  Is it possible to track the value added of these programmes?

  I'm curious about the extent they already take 'winners' and usher them into jobs they could have landed without the programme (and the converse).

• by xmdgngsnsgnn on 10/7/16, 10:48 PM

  When you say "engineers," do you mean actual engineers (i.e. aerospace, control and power systems, etc.), or just web and app developers?

• by deepGem on 10/8/16, 1:35 AM

  This is very cool ! Do you accept foreign applicants ? If so, any specific advice

• by DrNuke on 10/7/16, 6:34 PM

  I must admit that my interest in this field has peaked in 2015 (say a mid 2014 - mid 2016 cycle) and that I'm now only keen on applications for my industry. It's a good sign, though: DS/ML/AI alphabetisation is progressing very well and a lot of people and outsiders like me are starting to use the tools for their own agenda.