One thing I never get about these types of research programs is how anyone with a “normal” job can reasonably participate. They say they encourage people with software backgrounds who want to get into AI safety but maybe don’t have any other AI experience. Okay, that’s me. I have a software job on the East Coast of the US, not related to AI, but I spend a great deal of my free time reading AI research and doing my own projects. My employer isn’t gonna allow me to take a couple months off to go do this thing I personally am very interested in and think I would be good at, because it’s of no value to them. And as a young, junior employee, I don’t think I’m at the point where it’s appropriate for me to take a sabbatical. Come to think of it, I don’t know of anyone I’ve worked with at my company, senior or otherwise, taking a sabbatical.
I appreciate that stuff like this is available, but as someone who is currently trying to get out of my current field and into AI, I find myself sort of frustrated that the logistics of it make it pretty much impossible for a large class of people.
My employer isn’t gonna allow me to take a couple months off to go do this thing I personally am very interested in
Have you considered asking them about it? I’ve worked at several software jobs where this would have been no problem. I’ve also seen a few people take sabbaticals and there was no issue with it, their teammates generally thought it was really cool. One guy I know took a 1-year sabbatical to live in a van and drive around Europe.
This is all anecdotal and your situation may be different of course. I just wanted to add this data point as it seemed like you may be prematurely dismissing sabbaticals as some crazy thing that never happens in real life.
One thing I never get about these types of research programs is how anyone with a “normal” job can reasonably participate. They say they encourage people with software backgrounds who want to get into AI safety but maybe don’t have any other AI experience. Okay, that’s me. I have a software job on the East Coast of the US, not related to AI, but I spend a great deal of my free time reading AI research and doing my own projects. My employer isn’t gonna allow me to take a couple months off to go do this thing I personally am very interested in and think I would be good at, because it’s of no value to them. And as a young, junior employee, I don’t think I’m at the point where it’s appropriate for me to take a sabbatical. Come to think of it, I don’t know of anyone I’ve worked with at my company, senior or otherwise, taking a sabbatical.
I appreciate that stuff like this is available, but as someone who is currently trying to get out of my current field and into AI, I find myself sort of frustrated that the logistics of it make it pretty much impossible for a large class of people.
Have you considered asking them about it? I’ve worked at several software jobs where this would have been no problem. I’ve also seen a few people take sabbaticals and there was no issue with it, their teammates generally thought it was really cool. One guy I know took a 1-year sabbatical to live in a van and drive around Europe.
This is all anecdotal and your situation may be different of course. I just wanted to add this data point as it seemed like you may be prematurely dismissing sabbaticals as some crazy thing that never happens in real life.