相關(guān)背景及參考
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Andrej Karpathy - Academic Website | Blog | Github | Quora Session.
Research Scientist at OpenAI.
Previously ML/CV PhD student at Stanford under Prof. Fei-Fei Li.
Course Instructors for famous Stanford CS231n Course in Computer Vision. - [知乎] 博士這五年 @ 李沐.
近日焚刚，Open AI 人工智能研究科學(xué)家 Andrej Karpathy 完成在斯坦福的博士學(xué)位咧欣，其博士論文和他在博客上寫的讀博指導(dǎo)建議都獲得了極大關(guān)注邢羔。
Andrej Karpathy：計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)博士的生存指南
- Karpathy原文參考：Andrej Karpathy's Blog : A Survival Guide to a PhD
- 機(jī)器之心譯文參考：深度 | 李飛飛高徒 Andrej Karpathy：計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)博士的生存指南（附博士論文）
This guide is patterned after my “Doing well in your courses”, a post I wrote a long time ago on some of the tips/tricks I’ve developed during my undergrad. I’ve received nice comments about that guide, so in the same spirit, now that my PhD has come to an end I wanted to compile a similar retrospective document in hopes that it might be helpful to some. Unlike the undergraduate guide, this one was much more difficult to write because there is significantly more variation in how one can traverse the PhD experience. Therefore, many things are likely contentious and a good fraction will be specific to what I’m familiar with (Computer Science / Machine Learning / Computer Vision research). But disclaimers are boring, lets get to it!
如今，我即將完成自己的 PhD 學(xué)位，我想要寫一篇文章回顧自己的經(jīng)歷讼呢，希望這對(duì)你們有一些幫助侄非。不像本科指導(dǎo)，博士指導(dǎo)要更加難寫煌集，因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)人如何完成自己的博士生涯相比本科有更多的變化。因此捌省，很多事情可能是有爭(zhēng)議的苫纤，我熟悉的一些部分（計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)/機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)/計(jì)算機(jī)視覺研究）會(huì)具體寫一下。
Preliminaries 預(yù)熱
First, should you want to get a PhD? I was in a fortunate position of knowing since young age that I really wanted a PhD. Unfortunately it wasn’t for any very well-thought-through considerations: First, I really liked school and learning things and I wanted to learn as much as possible, and second, I really wanted to be like Gordon Freeman from the game Half-Life (who has a PhD from MIT in theoretical physics). I loved that game. But what if you’re more sensible in making your life’s decisions? Should you want to do a PhD? There’s a very nice Quora thread and in the summary of considerations that follows I’ll borrow/restate several from Justin/Ben/others there. I’ll assume that the second option you are considering is joining a medium-large company (which is likely most common). Ask yourself if you find the following properties appealing:
首先纲缓，你想要獲得博士學(xué)位嗎卷拘？在年輕的時(shí)候我就很幸運(yùn)的明知我真的想要一個(gè) PhD。不幸的是祝高，我并沒有經(jīng)過深思熟慮：首先栗弟，我是真的喜歡學(xué)校和學(xué)習(xí)，我想盡可能多學(xué)一些東西工闺。其次乍赫，我真的想成為游戲《半條命》里面的 Gordon Freeman 博士這樣的人（從 MIT 獲得理論物理博士學(xué)位）瓣蛀。我喜歡這個(gè)游戲。但在做人生決策時(shí)你更加敏感又會(huì)怎樣雷厂？還會(huì)想要讀 PhD 嗎惋增？（這里作者引用了自己在 Quora 上的回答，當(dāng)時(shí)他在大公司的 offer 與讀博之間做出的抉擇罗侯。）我假設(shè)你正在考慮是否加入一個(gè)中型公司（大部分人都是如此）器腋，你可以問自己該公司是否有如下吸引力：
Freedom. A PhD will offer you a lot of freedom in the topics you wish to pursue and learn about. You’re in charge. Of course, you’ll have an adviser who will impose some constraints but in general you’ll have much more freedom than you might find elsewhere.
自由。讀博在你想要追求和學(xué)習(xí)的主題上能提供很大的自由度钩杰。你在被別人管著纫塌。當(dāng)然，讀博也會(huì)有導(dǎo)師加以約束讲弄，但很大程度上要比其他更自由措左。
Ownership. The research you produce will be yours as an individual. Your accomplishments will have your name attached to them. In contrast, it is much more common to “blend in” inside a larger company. A common feeling here is becoming a “cog in a wheel”.
所有權(quán)。你做出的研究成果將會(huì)是你自己的避除，上面附屬自己的名字怎披。相反，在大公司內(nèi)瓶摆，「blend in」會(huì)很常見凉逛。常有的一個(gè)感覺是成為了「齒輪上的一個(gè)齒」。
Exclusivity. There are very few people who make it to the top PhD programs. You’d be joining a group of a few hundred distinguished individuals in contrast to a few tens of thousands (?) that will join some company.
排他性群井。很少有人單獨(dú)成功做到頂級(jí)的博士項(xiàng)目状飞。你將是加入一個(gè)由數(shù)百杰出個(gè)人組成的團(tuán)隊(duì)，相比于公司可能是數(shù)千人組成的團(tuán)隊(duì)书斜。
**Status. **Regardless of whether it should be or not, working towards and eventually getting a PhD degree is culturally revered and recognized as an impressive achievement. You also get to be a Doctor; that’s awesome.
地位诬辈。不管是不是這樣，向前進(jìn)并最終獲得博士學(xué)位在文化上是值得崇敬的荐吉，也是一項(xiàng)了不起的成就焙糟。你也將成為一個(gè)博士，這很棒样屠。
Personal freedom. As a PhD student you’re your own boss. Want to sleep in today? Sure. Want to skip a day and go on a vacation? Sure. All that matters is your final output and no one will force you to clock in from 9am to 5pm. Of course, some advisers might be more or less flexible about it and some companies might be as well, but it’s a true first order statement.
個(gè)人自由穿撮。博士生是自己的老板。今天想睡覺痪欲？可以悦穿。今天想溜號(hào)休假？可以勤揩。所有的一切就是最后的博士成果，沒人逼你要朝九晚五秘蛔。當(dāng)然陨亡，一些導(dǎo)師在這方面有很大的靈活性傍衡，一些公司也會(huì)靈活一些，但個(gè)人自由確實(shí)是初級(jí)聲明负蠕。
Maximizing future choice. Joining a PhD program doesn’t close any doors or eliminate future employment/lifestyle options. You can go one way (PhD -> anywhere else) but not the other (anywhere else -> PhD -> academia/research; it is statistically less likely). Additionally (although this might be quite specific to applied ML), you’re strictly more hirable as a PhD graduate or even as a PhD dropout and many companies might be willing to put you in a more interesting position or with a higher starting salary. More generally, maximizing choice for the future you is a good heuristic to follow.
最大化未來的選擇蛙埂。加入博士項(xiàng)目并不是關(guān)閉了一些出路或減少了未來職業(yè)/生活方式的選擇。你可以選擇走一條路（PhD→其他）遮糖，但并不只是一條路可走（其他→PhD→學(xué)術(shù)/研究）绣的。此外（盡管應(yīng)用機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)專業(yè)相當(dāng)特殊），博士畢業(yè)生甚至博士退學(xué)生更可能被雇傭欲账，很多公司也愿意將你安排到更有趣的位置或給你更好的起始薪資屡江。更廣泛的說，最大化選擇是你未來可以遵循的一個(gè)很具啟發(fā)性的方法赛不。
Maximizing variance. You’re young and there’s really no need to rush. Once you graduate from a PhD you can spend the next ~50 years of your life in some company. Opt for more variance in your experiences.
最大化你的轉(zhuǎn)變惩嘉。你還年輕，沒必要這么著急進(jìn)公司踢故。一旦你從博士畢業(yè)接下來有 50 年的時(shí)間花費(fèi)到公司文黎。在你的人生經(jīng)歷中，選擇有更多的轉(zhuǎn)變殿较。
Personal growth. PhD is an intense experience of rapid growth (you learn a lot) and personal self-discovery (you’ll become a master of managing your own psychology). PhD programs (especially if you can make it into a good one) also offer a high density of exceptionally bright people who will become your best friends forever.
個(gè)人成長(zhǎng)耸峭。PhD 是一段快速成長(zhǎng)（學(xué)到很多）和個(gè)人自我發(fā)現(xiàn)（成為掌握自我心理狀態(tài)的大師）的濃重經(jīng)歷。PhD 項(xiàng)目（特別是如果你能成功進(jìn)入一個(gè)好的項(xiàng)目）也能頻繁的為你提供機(jī)會(huì)淋纲，交往一些格外陽光的朋友劳闹。
Expertise. PhD is probably your only opportunity in life to really drill deep into a topic and become a recognized leading expert in the world at something. You’re exploring the edge of our knowledge as a species, without the burden of lesser distractions or constraints. There’s something beautiful about that and if you disagree, it could be a sign that PhD is not for you.
專業(yè)性。PhD 可能是你人生中唯一的機(jī)會(huì)真的深入一個(gè)主題帚戳，并在某些事情上成為世界上處于領(lǐng)導(dǎo)地位的專家玷或。在沒有分心與約束的壓力下，探索人類知識(shí)的邊緣片任。這是一件非常美好的事偏友，如果你不同意這一點(diǎn)，這可能就是一個(gè)你不適合讀 PhD 的信號(hào)对供。
The disclaimer. I wanted to also add a few words on some of the potential downsides and failure modes. The PhD is a very specific kind of experience that deserves a large disclaimer. You will inevitably find yourself working very hard (especially before paper deadlines). You need to be okay with the suffering and have enough mental stamina and determination to deal with the pressure. At some points you will lose track of what day of the week it is and go on a diet of leftover food from the microkitchens. You’ll sit exhausted and alone in the lab on a beautiful, sunny Saturday scrolling through Facebook pictures of your friends having fun on exotic trips, paid for by their 5-10x larger salaries. You will have to throw away 3 months of your work while somehow keeping your mental health intact. You’ll struggle with the realization that months of your work were spent on a paper with a few citations while your friends do exciting startups with TechCrunch articles or push products to millions of people. You’ll experience identity crises during which you’ll question your life decisions and wonder what you’re doing with some of the best years of your life. As a result, you should be quite certain that you can thrive in an unstructured environment in the pursuit research and discovery for science. If you’re unsure you should lean slightly negative by default. Ideally you should consider getting a taste of research as an undergraduate on a summer research program before before you decide to commit. In fact, one of the primary reasons that research experience is so desirable during the PhD hiring process is not the research itself, but the fact that the student is more likely to know what they’re getting themselves into.
放棄位他。我也想說一下可能存在的消極面和失敗模式。PhD 是一段非常特殊的經(jīng)歷产场，有大量的人會(huì)放棄鹅髓。你將不可避免的發(fā)現(xiàn)自己做起來特別難（特別是該交論文之前）。你需要適應(yīng)這些痛苦京景，并有足夠的心理耐力和決心處理這些壓力窿冯。有的時(shí)候你可能會(huì)過的不知道今天是周幾，吃廚房的剩菜剩飯确徙。在一個(gè)美妙的醒串、陽光明媚的下午执桌，翻動(dòng) Facebook 照片你發(fā)現(xiàn)朋友們拿著比自己多 5 到 10 倍的薪水享受著異國(guó)旅行，你要一個(gè)人坐在實(shí)驗(yàn)室精疲力盡芜赌。有時(shí)你會(huì)需要 3 個(gè)月的時(shí)間遠(yuǎn)離自己的研究仰挣，才能調(diào)整好健康的心態(tài)。在朋友們做著 TechCrunch 文章里面提到的創(chuàng)業(yè)時(shí)缠沈，或者在朋友們將產(chǎn)品推銷給百萬人時(shí)膘壶，你卻掙扎著意識(shí)到幾個(gè)月的研究花費(fèi)到了一篇只有幾個(gè)引用的論文上。你會(huì)經(jīng)歷自我認(rèn)知的危機(jī)洲愤，懷疑生活中的抉擇颓芭，想知道花費(fèi)自己人生中最寶貴的時(shí)間正在做什么。最后禽篱，你應(yīng)該相當(dāng)確信畜伐，自己在追求科學(xué)研究與發(fā)現(xiàn)的路上，能夠在無序的環(huán)境中成長(zhǎng)躺率、繁盛玛界。如果你不確信，你會(huì)容易因是被而消極悼吱。在你決定讀博之前慎框，理想上你可以先在一個(gè)夏季研究項(xiàng)目上作為本科生嘗試一下做研究。事實(shí)上后添，在 PhD 招聘期間笨枯，研究經(jīng)驗(yàn)如此被看重的主要原因不是研究本身，而是博士生更知道自己正在做什么遇西。
I should clarify explicitly that this post is not about convincing anyone to do a PhD, I’ve merely tried to enumerate some of the common considerations above. The majority of this post focuses on some tips/tricks for navigating the experience once if you decide to go for it (which we’ll see shortly, below).
我應(yīng)該明確地澄清馅精，這篇文章不是說服任何人去讀博士，我只是試圖枚舉上面的一些常見的考慮粱檀。這篇文章的大部分重點(diǎn)是一些指導(dǎo)經(jīng)驗(yàn)性的提示/技巧（我們將會(huì)在下文看到）洲敢，如果你決定去讀博。
Lastly, as a random thought I heard it said that you should only do a PhD if you want to go into academia. In light of all of the above I’d argue that a PhD has strong intrinsic value - it’s an end by itself, not just a means to some end (e.g. academic job).
最后茄蚯，我想到有人說如果你想進(jìn)入學(xué)術(shù)圈就讀 PhD压彭。基于上面提到的渗常，我認(rèn)為 PhD 有強(qiáng)大的固有價(jià)值壮不，PhD 本身就是一個(gè)目的（end），而不只是達(dá)到某個(gè)目的（比如皱碘，學(xué)術(shù)圈的工作）方式询一。
Getting into a PhD program: references, references, references. Great, you’ve decided to go for it. Now how do you get into a good PhD program? The first order approximation is quite simple - by far most important component are strong reference letters. The ideal scenario is that a well-known professor writes you a letter along the lines of: “Blah is in top 5 of students I’ve ever worked with. She takes initiative, comes up with her own ideas, and gets them to work.” The worst letter is along the lines of: “Blah took my class. She did well.” A research publication under your belt from a summer research program is a very strong bonus, but not absolutely required provided you have strong letters. In particular note: grades are quite irrelevant but you generally don’t want them to be too low. This was not obvious to me as an undergrad and I spent a lot of energy on getting good grades. This time should have instead been directed towards research (or at the very least personal projects), as much and as early as possible, and if possible under supervision of multiple people (you’ll need 3+ letters!). As a last point, what won’t help you too much is pestering your potential advisers out of the blue. They are often incredibly busy people and if you try to approach them too aggressively in an effort to impress them somehow in conferences or over email this may agitate them.
進(jìn)入一個(gè)博士項(xiàng)目：推薦、推薦、推薦健蕊。好缓醋，你決定努力爭(zhēng)取一個(gè)項(xiàng)目，現(xiàn)在就是如何進(jìn)入一個(gè)好的 PhD 項(xiàng)目绊诲？第一等級(jí)的逼近方式相當(dāng)簡(jiǎn)單，目前最重要的就是強(qiáng)有力的推薦信褪贵。理想場(chǎng)景是一個(gè)知名教授這樣為你寫推薦信掂之，「xx 是曾與我一起工作過的學(xué)而生中的前 5 名，她積極主動(dòng)脆丁，有自己的想法世舰，并付諸實(shí)踐〔畚溃」最差的推薦信就是跟压，「xx 上了我的課，做的不錯(cuò)歼培≌鸾」來自夏季研究項(xiàng)目的你自己的學(xué)術(shù)著作是一個(gè)強(qiáng)有力的加分，但并不如你有強(qiáng)有力的推薦信躲庄。特別提醒：分?jǐn)?shù)并不強(qiáng)相關(guān)查剖，但你一般不太想分?jǐn)?shù)太低吧。本科時(shí)這在我身上并不明顯噪窘，因?yàn)槲一ㄙM(fèi)大量精力取得好成績(jī)笋庄。只有可能就直接與研究有關(guān)（或者最低限度就是與個(gè)人項(xiàng)目有關(guān)），盡可能的多倔监，也盡可能的早直砂，如果可能也要得到多人指導(dǎo)（你需要 3 個(gè)以上的推薦信！）最后一點(diǎn)浩习，突然的糾纏未來可能成為你導(dǎo)師的人不會(huì)提供任何幫助静暂。他們總是非常的忙，如果你想在回憶上或者通過郵件強(qiáng)勢(shì)的接近他們瘦锹，想要給他們深刻的印象籍嘹，這可能反而會(huì)激怒他們。
Picking the school. Once you get into some PhD programs, how do you pick the school? It’s easy, join Stanford! Just kidding. More seriously, your dream school should 1) be a top school (not because it looks good on your resume/CV but because of feedback loops; top schools attract other top people, many of whom you will get to know and work with) 2) have a few potential advisers you would want to work with. I really do mean the “few” part - this is very important and provides a safety cushion for you if things don’t work out with your top choice for any one of hundreds of reasons - things in many cases outside of your control, e.g. your dream professor leaves, moves, or spontaneously disappears, and 3) be in a good environment physically. I don’t think new admits appreciate this enough: you will spend 5+ years of your really good years living near the school campus. Trust me, this is a long time and your life will consist of much more than just research.
選擇學(xué)校弯院。一旦你進(jìn)入一些 PhD 項(xiàng)目辱士，然后如何選擇學(xué)校？很簡(jiǎn)單听绳，斯坦福八痰狻！開玩笑啦。嚴(yán)肅的說头岔，夢(mèng)想中的大學(xué)是首選（不是因?yàn)樗雌饋韺?duì)你的履歷/簡(jiǎn)歷好塔拳，而是因?yàn)樗姆答伃h(huán)路。頂級(jí)學(xué)校也吸引其他頂尖人才峡竣，你可以跟其中的很多人相識(shí)靠抑、一起工作。）适掰。第二就是有一些想要一起工作的導(dǎo)師颂碧。我說「一些」導(dǎo)師是很認(rèn)真的，如果首選因各種原因無法達(dá)成类浪，比如因理想教授離職载城、搬走或自然死亡而脫離了掌控，多一些導(dǎo)師選擇對(duì)你而言很重要费就，也是一種安全保障诉瓦。第三，選擇一個(gè)好的物理環(huán)境力细，我認(rèn)為新生不夠注重這一點(diǎn)：你將花費(fèi)生命中最好的 5 年時(shí)間生活在校園之中睬澡。相信我，這是相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間眠蚂，而且生命中不只有研究猴贰。
Adviser 導(dǎo)師
Student adviser relationship. The adviser is an extremely important person who will exercise a lot of influence over your PhD experience. It’s important to understand the nature of the relationship: the adviser-student relationship is a symbiosis; you have your own goals and want something out of your PhD, but they also have their own goals, constraints and they’re building their own career. Therefore, it is very helpful to understand your adviser’s incentive structures: how the tenure process works, how they are evaluated, how they get funding, how they fund you, what department politics they might be embedded in, how they win awards, how academia in general works and specifically how they gain recognition and respect of their colleagues. This alone will help you avoid or mitigate a large fraction of student-adviser friction points and allow you to plan appropriately. I also don’t want to make the relationship sound too much like a business transaction. The advisor-student relationship, more often that not, ends up developing into a lasting one, predicated on much more than just career advancement.
導(dǎo)師關(guān)系。導(dǎo)師是極其重要的人河狐，會(huì)對(duì)你的博士生涯產(chǎn)生重要影響米绕。理解這個(gè)關(guān)系的本質(zhì)是很重要的：導(dǎo)師與學(xué)生之間是一種共生關(guān)系；你有自己的目標(biāo)馋艺，想在博士階段出些成果栅干，但是導(dǎo)師也有他們的目標(biāo)、約束捐祠，他們也要考慮自己的職業(yè)發(fā)展碱鳞。因此，理解導(dǎo)師的激勵(lì)機(jī)制是很有好處的踱蛀，包括任職期間如何工作窿给，這個(gè)職位的評(píng)估標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，他們?nèi)绾潍@取經(jīng)費(fèi)率拒，他們可能牽扯進(jìn)了什么樣的系內(nèi)政治崩泡，他們?nèi)绾文锚?jiǎng)，學(xué)術(shù)界通常是怎么運(yùn)作的猬膨，還有尤其是他們?nèi)绾潍@得認(rèn)可和同事的尊重角撞。這有助于避免或減輕與導(dǎo)師之間的摩擦并允許你進(jìn)行適當(dāng)?shù)囊?guī)劃。我也不想讓這種關(guān)系聽上去更像是一種交易。導(dǎo)師與學(xué)生之間的關(guān)系不應(yīng)該只是事業(yè)發(fā)展谒所，而往往是一種持續(xù)的热康、可預(yù)測(cè)的關(guān)系。
Pre-vs-post tenure. Every adviser is different so it’s helpful to understand the axes of variations and their repercussions on your PhD experience. As one rule of thumb (and keep in mind there are many exceptions), it’s important to keep track of whether a potential adviser is pre-tenure or post-tenure. The younger faculty members will usually be around more (they are working hard to get tenure) and will usually be more low-level, have stronger opinions on what you should be working on, they’ll do math with you, pitch concrete ideas, or even look at (or contribute to) your code. This is a much more hands-on and possibly intense experience because the adviser will need a strong publication record to get tenure and they are incentivised to push you to work just as hard. In contrast, more senior faculty members may have larger labs and tend to have many other commitments (e.g. committees, talks, travel) other than research, which means that they can only afford to stay on a higher level of abstraction both in the area of their research and in the level of supervision for their students. To caricature, it’s a difference between “you’re missing a second term in that equation” and “you may want to read up more in this area, talk to this or that person, and sell your work this or that way”. In the latter case, the low-level advice can still come from the senior PhD students in the lab or the postdocs.
re-tenure 與 post-tenure劣领。每位導(dǎo)師都不同姐军，所以理解 tenure-track 的變化和他們對(duì)你博士生涯的影響也是很有幫助的。送上一條經(jīng)驗(yàn)法則（記住也有很多例外）尖淘，無論你的導(dǎo)師是處于 pre-tenure 還是 post-tenure庶弃，緊跟他的職業(yè)軌跡非常重要。通常情況下德澈，年輕一些的教員常常比較多，級(jí)別也更低固惯，但是他們也會(huì)對(duì)你的科研任務(wù)施加更強(qiáng)烈的建議梆造，和你一起工作，拋出具體的想法葬毫，甚至?xí)湍銠z查代碼（這是好事）镇辉。跟著這樣的導(dǎo)師，更實(shí)際一些贴捡，課業(yè)也會(huì)更緊忽肛，因?yàn)樗麄冃枰l(fā)表很多質(zhì)量不錯(cuò)的論文來獲得 tenure，他們有動(dòng)力推動(dòng)你一樣努力工作烂斋。相比之下屹逛，級(jí)別更高的教員或許有更大的實(shí)驗(yàn)室，除研究之外會(huì)有其他方面的優(yōu)勢(shì)（比如汛骂，委員會(huì)罕模，討論會(huì)，游學(xué)）帘瞭，這意味著淑掌，他們?cè)趯W(xué)校里只能處在更高級(jí)別的職位，無論是在他們的研究領(lǐng)域蝶念，還是在監(jiān)督學(xué)生上抛腕。諷刺的是，這就是「你在這個(gè)方程中漏掉了一個(gè)術(shù)語」和「你在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域還要多讀些資料媒殉，和這個(gè)或那個(gè)人聊聊担敌，這樣或那樣兜售你的成果」之間的區(qū)別。在后一種情況中廷蓉，低水平的建議仍然來自于實(shí)驗(yàn)室里高年級(jí)博士研究生或者博士后柄错。
Axes of variation. There are many other axes to be aware of. Some advisers are fluffy and some prefer to keep your relationship very professional. Some will try to exercise a lot of influence on the details of your work and some are much more hands off. Some will have a focus on specific models and their applications to various tasks while some will focus on tasks and more indifference towards any particular modeling approach. In terms of more managerial properties, some will meet you every week (or day!) multiple times and some you won’t see for months. Some advisers answer emails right away and some don’t answer email for a week (or ever, haha). Some advisers make demands about your work schedule (e.g. you better work long hours or weekends) and some won’t. Some advisers generously support their students with equipment and some think laptops or old computers are mostly fine. Some advisers will fund you to go to a conferences even if you don’t have a paper there and some won’t. Some advisers are entrepreneurial or applied and some lean more towards theoretical work. Some will let you do summer internships and some will consider internships just a distraction.
除了tenure 之外的其他變化。還有很多需要注意的變化。一些導(dǎo)師比較隨意售貌，另一些對(duì)待師生關(guān)系則比較專業(yè)謹(jǐn)慎给猾。有些人會(huì)試圖影響你的工作細(xì)節(jié)，有些則會(huì)放開手讓你自己去做颂跨。一些會(huì)專注研究特定的幾個(gè)模型及其在不同任務(wù)上的應(yīng)用敢伸，而另一些則專注于任務(wù)不在意建模方法。從管理上看恒削，有些導(dǎo)師能一周（或天３鼐薄）見上幾次，有些幾個(gè)月都見不到人钓丰。一些導(dǎo)師會(huì)快速回復(fù)郵件躯砰，而另一些一周都不會(huì)回（甚至更長(zhǎng)，哈哈）携丁。一些導(dǎo)師會(huì)要求你給他一個(gè)時(shí)間表（比如琢歇，你最好能長(zhǎng)時(shí)間工作或者周末工作）而另一些不會(huì)。一些導(dǎo)師慷慨地支持他們的學(xué)生梦鉴，給學(xué)生配設(shè)備李茫，還有一些認(rèn)為有臺(tái)筆記本或舊臺(tái)式電腦就可以了。一些導(dǎo)師會(huì)資助你去參加會(huì)議肥橙，即使你沒有投論文魄宏，有些則不會(huì)。一些導(dǎo)師是企業(yè)家類型的或者偏向應(yīng)用存筏，一些則更傾向于理論工作宠互。一些會(huì)允許你暑期實(shí)習(xí)，另一些則認(rèn)為實(shí)習(xí)會(huì)分心椭坚。
Finding an adviser. So how do you pick an adviser? The first stop, of course, is to talk to them in person. The student-adviser relationship is sometimes referred to as a marriage and you should make sure that there is a good fit. Of course, first you want to make sure that you can talk with them and that you get along personally, but it’s also important to get an idea of what area of “professor space” they occupy with respect to the aforementioned axes, and especially whether there is an intellectual resonance between the two of you in terms of the problems you are interested in. This can be just as important as their management style.
選導(dǎo)師名秀。所以導(dǎo)師該怎么選呢？首先要和他們單獨(dú)面談藕溅。師生關(guān)系有時(shí)可以比喻成婚姻匕得，要確保你們合得來。當(dāng)然巾表，首先你得確定你能和他聊天和他相處汁掠，不過相對(duì)于前述的 Tenure，要明白導(dǎo)師仍舊是教授集币，尤其是否能與你在你感興趣的問題上產(chǎn)生智力共鳴考阱。這比他們采取哪種管理方法更加重要。
Collecting references. You should also collect references on your potential adviser. One good strategy is to talk to their students. If you want to get actual information this shouldn’t be done in a very formal way or setting but in a relaxed environment or mood (e.g. a party). In many cases the students might still avoid saying bad things about the adviser if asked in a general manner, but they will usually answer truthfully when you ask specific questions, e.g. “how often do you meet?”, or “how hands on are they?”. Another strategy is to look at where their previous students ended up (you can usually find this on the website under an alumni section), which of course also statistically informs your own eventual outcome.
收集資料鞠苟。你也應(yīng)該收集一下心儀導(dǎo)師的資料乞榨。和他們的學(xué)生聊聊秽之。如果你想得到有用的消息，這件事在正式場(chǎng)合下一定不能做吃既，只能在輕松的場(chǎng)合（比如聚會(huì)）下問問未來的學(xué)長(zhǎng)學(xué)姐考榨。很多情況下，學(xué)生一般不會(huì)直接說導(dǎo)師不好鹦倚，但是如果你問他具體的問題河质，他通常會(huì)真實(shí)的回答你，比如震叙，你可以問「你們多久見一次面掀鹅？」，或者「他現(xiàn)在有什么職務(wù)」媒楼。另一個(gè)策略是看看他之前帶出來的學(xué)生最后都怎么樣了（你可以在網(wǎng)站上找到）乐尊，這樣你就大概知道自己以后的去處了。
Impressing an adviser. The adviser-student matching process is sometimes compared to a marriage - you pick them but they also pick you. The ideal student from their perspective is someone with interest and passion, someone who doesn’t need too much hand-holding, and someone who takes initiative - who shows up a week later having done not just what the adviser suggested, but who went beyond it; improved on it in unexpected ways.
給導(dǎo)師留下印象划址。導(dǎo)師學(xué)生互選過程有時(shí)可以比喻成婚姻扔嵌，你選他們，他們也選你猴鲫。他們認(rèn)為理想的學(xué)生是有興趣有激情的，自律能力強(qiáng)谣殊，不需要手把手教拂共，主動(dòng)性強(qiáng)，一周內(nèi)不僅能完成導(dǎo)師布置的任務(wù)還能自己有所拓展姻几；用意外的方法改進(jìn)結(jié)果宜狐。
Consider the entire lab. Another important point to realize is that you’ll be seeing your adviser maybe once a week but you’ll be seeing most of their students every single day in the lab and they will go on to become your closest friends. In most cases you will also end up collaborating with some of the senior PhD students or postdocs and they will play a role very similar to that of your adviser. The postdocs, in particular, are professors-in-training and they will likely be eager to work with you as they are trying to gain advising experience they can point to for their academic job search. Therefore, you want to make sure the entire group has people you can get along with, people you respect and who you can work with closely on research projects.
要考慮整個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)室。另一個(gè)重點(diǎn)是要意識(shí)到你會(huì)一周見導(dǎo)師一次蛇捌，但是同門每天都能在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里見到抚恒，他們會(huì)成為你最親密的朋友。在大多數(shù)情況下络拌，你最后會(huì)與一些高年級(jí)博士生或博士后合作俭驮，他們的角色會(huì)非常類似你的導(dǎo)師。尤其是博士后春贸，他們可能是未來的教授混萝，他們也渴望和你一起工作，這樣能積累帶學(xué)生的經(jīng)驗(yàn)萍恕。因此逸嘀，你要確定整個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)中能有合得來的人谱邪，你尊重的人蛛枚，還有你能親密地做研究項(xiàng)目的人繁堡。
Research topics 研究主題
So you’ve entered a PhD program and found an adviser. Now what do you work on?
所以惹悄，如果你進(jìn)入博士階段强戴，并找到一名導(dǎo)師。如何開展下去呢飘庄？
An exercise in the outer loop. First note the nature of the experience. A PhD is simultaneously a fun and frustrating experience because you’re constantly operating on a meta problem level. You’re not just solving problems - that’s merely the simple inner loop. You spend most of your time on the outer loop, figuring out what problems are worth solving and what problems are ripe for solving. You’re constantly imagining yourself solving hypothetical problems and asking yourself where that puts you, what it could unlock, or if anyone cares. If you’re like me this can sometimes drive you a little crazy because you’re spending long hours working on things and you’re not even sure if they are the correct things to work on or if a solution exists.
外圍的鍛煉脑蠕。首先注意博士階段的性質(zhì)，一個(gè)博士學(xué)位讀下來有苦有樂跪削，因?yàn)槟銜?huì)不斷接觸到元問題（meta problem）谴仙。你不只是在解決問題——這僅僅是你要做的分內(nèi)事。你的大部分時(shí)間要花在外圍上碾盐，找出什么問題是值得解決的晃跺，什么問題已經(jīng)成熟到可以解決。你要持續(xù)想象自己在解決假設(shè)問題毫玖，問自己處在什么位置掀虎，這個(gè)問題能打開什么，或者是否有人關(guān)心你研究的問題付枫。如果你像我一樣烹玉，就會(huì)有點(diǎn)瘋狂，因?yàn)槟阍诨ù罅康臅r(shí)間在做你甚至無法確定是否正確阐滩，也不知道能不能解決的事情二打。
Developing taste. When it comes to choosing problems you’ll hear academics talk about a mystical sense of “taste”. It’s a real thing. When you pitch a potential problem to your adviser you’ll either see their face contort, their eyes rolling, and their attention drift, or you’ll sense the excitement in their eyes as they contemplate the uncharted territory ripe for exploration. In that split second a lot happens: an evaluation of the problem’s importance, difficulty, its sexiness, its historical context (and possibly also its fit to their active grants). In other words, your adviser is likely to be a master of the outer loop and will have a highly developed sense of taste for problems. During your PhD you’ll get to acquire this sense yourself.
In particular, I think I had a terrible taste coming in to the PhD. I can see this from the notes I took in my early PhD years. A lot of the problems I was excited about at the time were in retrospect poorly conceived, intractable, or irrelevant. I’d like to think I refined the sense by the end through practice and apprenticeship.
Let me now try to serialize a few thoughts on what goes into this sense of taste, and what makes a problem interesting to work on.
研究品味。當(dāng)你選擇研究問題時(shí)掂榔，你會(huì)聽到學(xué)術(shù)界討一個(gè)神秘的概念「品味（taste）」继效。它一個(gè)實(shí)實(shí)在在的東西。當(dāng)你向?qū)熖岢鲆粋€(gè)潛在的問題時(shí)装获，你可能會(huì)看到他們扭曲的臉瑞信，瞪大的眼睛，注意力飄忽的表情穴豫，或者當(dāng)他們思考未知領(lǐng)域亟待探索時(shí)凡简，你能感受到他眼神里的興奮。在你拋出問題的瞬間發(fā)生很多事情：評(píng)價(jià)問題的重要性精肃、難度潘鲫、吸引力，它的歷史語境（可能也會(huì)考慮是否能得到補(bǔ)助）肋杖。換句話說溉仑，你的導(dǎo)師是外圍問題大師，在判斷問題上品味很高状植。在博士階段浊竟，你也會(huì)慢慢獲得這方面的悟性怨喘。
我想過去我這方面的品味不太好，從我早期的博士筆記中就能看出來振定。當(dāng)時(shí)令我興奮的很多問題現(xiàn)在回想起來在構(gòu)思上都不夠精巧必怜，難以下手，相關(guān)性也不強(qiáng)后频。經(jīng)過實(shí)踐和學(xué)習(xí)后梳庆，我的品味才得到提升。
我來試著總結(jié)一下關(guān)于怎樣培養(yǎng)品味的思考卑惜，以及怎么讓問題有趣地研究下去膏执。
A fertile ground. First, recognize that during your PhD you will dive deeply into one area and your papers will very likely chain on top of each other to create a body of work (which becomes your thesis). Therefore, you should always be thinking several steps ahead when choosing a problem. It’s impossible to predict how things will unfold but you can often get a sense of how much room there could be for additional work.
一個(gè)豐饒的領(lǐng)域。首先露久，要意識(shí)到在你的博士階段你會(huì)深入某個(gè)領(lǐng)域更米，你的論文很有可能進(jìn)入研究鏈的頂端，自成體系（成為你的 thesis）毫痕。因此征峦，選擇一個(gè)問題時(shí)，你應(yīng)該多往前思考幾步消请。預(yù)測(cè)事情怎樣進(jìn)展不太可能栏笆，但是你能感知到你還有多大的研究空間。
Plays to your adviser’s interests and strengths. You will want to operate in the realm of your adviser’s interest. Some advisers may allow you to work on slightly tangential areas but you would not be taking full advantage of their knowledge and you are making them less likely to want to help you with your project or promote your work. For instance, (and this goes to my previous point of understanding your adviser’s job) every adviser has a “default talk” slide deck on their research that they give all the time and if your work can add new exciting cutting edge work slides to this deck then you’ll find them much more invested, helpful and involved in your research. Additionally, their talks will promote and publicize your work.
配合導(dǎo)師的研究興趣和研究長(zhǎng)處臊泰。你會(huì)想要直接進(jìn)入導(dǎo)師研究興趣的領(lǐng)域蛉加。一些導(dǎo)師或許會(huì)只允許你進(jìn)入邊緣地帶，但是這樣你就不能全部利用他們的知識(shí)因宇，他們就不太可能想幫助你的項(xiàng)目或促進(jìn)你的工作七婴。例如祟偷，（這是我以前的想法）每位導(dǎo)師在研究上都有一個(gè)通用的幻燈片模板察滑，如果你的研究成果夠前沿，能被添加到那個(gè)幻燈片模板中修肠，你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)導(dǎo)師對(duì)你的研究投入更多了贺辰，給你的幫助也多了。此外嵌施，他們還能幫助推廣和公開你的成果饲化。
Be ambitious: the sublinear scaling of hardness. People have a strange bug built into psychology: a 10x more important or impactful problem intuitively feels 10x harder (or 10x less likely) to achieve. This is a fallacy - in my experience a 10x more important problem is at most 2-3x harder to achieve. In fact, in some cases a 10x harder problem may be easier to achieve. How is this? It’s because thinking 10x forces you out of the box, to confront the real limitations of an approach, to think from first principles, to change the strategy completely, to innovate. If you aspire to improve something by 10% and work hard then you will. But if you aspire to improve it by 100% you are still quite likely to, but you will do it very differently.
要有點(diǎn)雄心：在努力這件事上要做到收放自如。人的心理都有個(gè)奇怪的 bug： 10 倍的重要或影響的問題在直觀感覺解決起來就需要 10 倍的努力吗伤。這是個(gè)錯(cuò)覺——我的經(jīng)驗(yàn)是 10 倍重要的問題吃靠，至多需要 2 到 3 倍的努力就行了。事實(shí)上足淆，在一些情況下巢块，一個(gè) 10 倍困難的問題解決起來可能更容易礁阁。為什么？因?yàn)槟銜?huì)有 10 倍的動(dòng)力走出自己的黑箱族奢，看到方法真正的局限性姥闭。從首要原理（first principles）開始思考，改變?nèi)坎呗栽阶撸^而創(chuàng)新棚品。如果你渴望做出 10% 的改進(jìn)并且很努力，你就會(huì)成功廊敌。但是如果你渴望做出 100% 的改進(jìn)铜跑，你仍然很有可能成功，但會(huì)以一種非常不同的方式庭敦。
Ambitious but with an attack. At this point it’s also important to point out that there are plenty of important problems that don’t make great projects. I recommend reading You and Your Research by Richard Hamming, where this point is expanded on:
If you do not work on an important problem, it’s unlikely you’ll do important work. It’s perfectly obvious. Great scientists have thought through, in a careful way, a number of important problems in their field, and they keep an eye on wondering how to attack them. Let me warn you, `important problem’ must be phrased carefully. The three outstanding problems in physics, in a certain sense, were never worked on while I was at Bell Labs. By important I mean guaranteed a Nobel Prize and any sum of money you want to mention. We didn’t work on (1) time travel, (2) teleportation, and (3) antigravity. They are not important problems because we do not have an attack. It’s not the consequence that makes a problem important, it is that you have a reasonable attack. That is what makes a problem important.
雄心但也要能解決疼进。在這一點(diǎn)上，需要指出的重要一點(diǎn)是有很多重要的問題無法做成大項(xiàng)目秧廉。我推薦閱讀 Richard Hamming 寫的一條博客：你與你的研究（You and Your Research）伞广，這里面探討了這個(gè)問題：
如果你研究的問題不重要，你也就很有可能無法做出重要的成果疼电。這是十分明顯的嚼锄。偉大的科學(xué)家會(huì)深思熟慮他們領(lǐng)域內(nèi)的許多重要的問題，而且他們會(huì)密切關(guān)注蔽豺、仔細(xì)琢磨如何攻克它們区丑。讓我警告你，「重要的問題」必須小心謹(jǐn)慎修陡。當(dāng)我在貝爾實(shí)驗(yàn)室的時(shí)候沧侥，物理學(xué)的三大突出問題在一定意義上都沒有得到過研究。這里所說的「重要」是指肯定能得到諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)和任何數(shù)量你想要的資金魄鸦。我們不研究 1）時(shí)間旅行宴杀，2）物質(zhì)傳輸，3）反重力拾因。它們并不是不重要旺罢，而是因?yàn)槲覀儫o力解決。決定一個(gè)問題是否重要并不是因?yàn)榻Y(jié)果绢记，而是你可以合理地解決扁达。這才是使一個(gè)問題重要的原因。
The person who did X. Ultimately, the goal of a PhD is to not only develop a deep expertise in a field but to also make your mark upon it. To steer it, shape it. The ideal scenario is that by the end of the PhD you own some part of an important area, preferably one that is also easy and fast to describe. You want people to say things like “she’s the person who did X”. If you can fill in a blank there you’ll be successful.
做到 X 的人蠢熄。最后跪解，PhD 的目標(biāo)不只是成為某個(gè)領(lǐng)域內(nèi)的深度專家，而且還要在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域打上你的烙印签孔。要引導(dǎo)它叉讥，塑造它砾跃。理想的情況是：當(dāng)你的 PhD 階段結(jié)束時(shí)，你已經(jīng)在一個(gè)重要領(lǐng)域贏得了自己的一席之地节吮，最好是一個(gè)可以容易和快速地描述的領(lǐng)域抽高。你想聽到人們說「她就是那個(gè)做到 X 的人」這樣的話。如果你能填補(bǔ)一項(xiàng)空白透绩，你就是成功的翘骂。
Valuable skills. Recognize that during your PhD you will become an expert at the area of your choosing (as fun aside, note that [5 years]x[260 working days]x[8 hours per day] is 10,400 hours; if you believe Gladwell then a PhD is exactly the amount of time to become an expert). So imagine yourself 5 years later being a world expert in this area (the 10,000 hours will ensure that regardless of the academic impact of your work). Are these skills exciting or potentially valuable to your future endeavors?
有價(jià)值的技能。認(rèn)識(shí)在到讀博期間你將成為所選擇的領(lǐng)域內(nèi)的一名專家（撇開興趣不談帚豪，5 年×每年 260 個(gè)工作日×每天 8 個(gè)小時(shí)是 10,400 小時(shí)碳竟。如果你相信 Gladwell，PhD 正是需要大量的時(shí)間才能成為專家狸臣。）所以莹桅，想一下 5 年后你成為了這個(gè)領(lǐng)域的世界級(jí)專家（不論你的研究的學(xué)術(shù)影響，1 萬小時(shí)將保證這一點(diǎn)烛亦。）擁有這些技能是不是很振奮诈泼？或者對(duì)你未來的職業(yè)足夠有價(jià)值？
Negative examples. There are also some problems or types of papers that you ideally want to avoid. For instance, you’ll sometimes hear academics talk about “incremental work” (this is the worst adjective possible in academia). Incremental work is a paper that enhances something existing by making it more complex and gets 2% extra on some benchmark. The amusing thing about these papers is that they have a reasonably high chance of getting accepted (a reviewer can’t point to anything to kill them; they are also sometimes referred to as “cockroach papers”), so if you have a string of these papers accepted you can feel as though you’re being very productive, but in fact these papers won’t go on to be highly cited and you won’t go on to have a lot of impact on the field. Similarly, finding projects should ideally not include thoughts along the lines of “there’s this next logical step in the air that no one has done yet, let me do it”, or “this should be an easy poster”.
負(fù)面例子煤禽。也有一些難題或者論文類型你理想上想要避免铐达。例如，有時(shí)你聽到學(xué)習(xí)界討論「增量工作（incremental work）」（這簡(jiǎn)直是學(xué)術(shù)界最糟糕的形容）檬果。增量工作是指一篇論文通過使其更復(fù)雜并在一些基準(zhǔn)上得到 2% 的額外增分瓮孙，從而增強(qiáng)了一些已有的事情。這些論文的可笑之處在于有很高的機(jī)會(huì)會(huì)被接收（評(píng)審員沒有拒絕這些論文的理由选脊；有時(shí)它們也被稱為 cockroach paper）杭抠，所以你有這樣的一系列論文被接受，你可以感覺自己非常高產(chǎn)恳啥，但事實(shí)上這些論文不會(huì)有很高的引用偏灿，你也不會(huì)在該領(lǐng)域有很高的影響力。類似的角寸，尋找研究工程不能只理想的考慮「有這樣一個(gè)下一步邏輯步驟還沒有人做菩混，讓我來做」忿墅，或者「這應(yīng)該是一個(gè)非常簡(jiǎn)單的 poster扁藕。」
Case study: my thesis. To make some of this discussion more concrete I wanted to use the example of how my own PhD unfolded. First, fun fact: my entire thesis is based on work I did in the last 1.5 years of my PhD. i.e. it took me quite a long time to wiggle around in the metaproblem space and find a problem that I felt very excited to work on (the other ~2 years I mostly meandered on 3D things (e.g. Kinect Fusion, 3D meshes, point cloud features) and video things). Then at one point in my 3rd year I randomly stopped by Richard Socher’s office on some Saturday at 2am. We had a chat about interesting problems and I realized that some of his work on images and language was in fact getting at something very interesting (of course, the area at the intersection of images and language goes back quite a lot further than Richard as well). I couldn’t quite see all the papers that would follow but it seemed heuristically very promising: it was highly fertile (a lot of unsolved problems, a lot of interesting possibilities on grounding descriptions to images), I felt that it was very cool and important, it was easy to explain, it seemed to be at the boundary of possible (Deep Learning has just started to work), the datasets had just started to become available (Flickr8K had just come out), it fit nicely into Fei-Fei’s interests and even if I were not successful I’d at least get lots of practice with optimizing interesting deep nets that I could reapply elsewhere. I had a strong feeling of a tsunami of checkmarks as everything clicked in place in my mind. I pitched this to Fei-Fei (my adviser) as an area to dive into the next day and, with relief, she enthusiastically approved, encouraged me, and would later go on to steer me within the space (e.g. Fei-Fei insisted that I do image to sentence generation while I was mostly content with ranking.). I’m happy with how things evolved from there. In short, I meandered around for 2 years stuck around the outer loop, finding something to dive into. Once it clicked for me what that was based on several heuristics, I dug in.
案例學(xué)習(xí)：我的主題疚脐。為了更詳細(xì)的討論這個(gè)話題亿柑，我打算使用自己如何展開 PhD 作為例子。首先棍弄，有趣的事實(shí)：我的整個(gè)主題都基于 PhD 期間一年半的研究望薄。也就是疟游，它花費(fèi)了我相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間在元問題空間（metaproblem space）不斷搖擺，然后才找出了一個(gè)我感覺令我振奮的問題（其他兩年我大部分是做 3D痕支，比如 Kinect Fusion颁虐、3D 網(wǎng)、點(diǎn)云特征（point cloud features）卧须、還有視頻方面的工作）另绩。然后在我讀博第三年，在某個(gè)周六的下午兩點(diǎn)花嘶，我來到了 Richard Socher 的辦公室笋籽。我們閑聊時(shí)我意識(shí)到他在圖像和語音上研究的一些問題事實(shí)上非常的有趣（當(dāng)然，圖像和語言交叉的這個(gè)領(lǐng)域在 Richard 之前就有了椭员。）我難以看完所有需要查看的論文车海，但該領(lǐng)域看起來相當(dāng)有前途：該領(lǐng)域相當(dāng)?shù)母火垼ù罅课唇鉀Q的難題，在對(duì)圖像進(jìn)行基礎(chǔ)描述尚有大量的可能性隘击。）我認(rèn)為這相當(dāng)?shù)目崾讨ィ埠苤匾埠芎?jiǎn)單去解釋埋同，看起來它處于成為可能的邊緣（深度學(xué)習(xí)也只是剛開始有效）竭贩，數(shù)據(jù)集也剛開始變得可用（Flickr8K 也剛出現(xiàn)）。這剛好滿足李飛飛的興趣莺禁，即使我沒有成功留量，我至少得到了大量的時(shí)間，優(yōu)化了我可能用于其他領(lǐng)域的有趣的深度網(wǎng)絡(luò)哟冬。當(dāng)所有事在我腦海中出現(xiàn)的時(shí)候楼熄，我強(qiáng)烈感覺到一股海嘯。我把這個(gè)主題在第二天投給了導(dǎo)師李飛飛浩峡，感覺松了一口氣可岂。她熱情澎湃地通過了，給予我鼓勵(lì)翰灾。而且在接下來的工作中指導(dǎo)我缕粹，（例如，在我滿足于排名的時(shí)候纸淮，飛飛堅(jiān)持讓我做圖像語句生成平斩。）后續(xù)的發(fā)展讓我很高興。簡(jiǎn)言之咽块，我游蕩了近兩年才發(fā)現(xiàn)要深入的領(lǐng)域绘面。給予數(shù)個(gè)啟發(fā)方法，一旦我發(fā)現(xiàn)我要做什么，我就深入地去做揭璃。
Resistance. I’d like to also mention that your adviser is by no means infallible. I’ve witnessed and heard of many instances in which, in retrospect, the adviser made the wrong call. If you feel this way during your phd you should have the courage to sometimes ignore your adviser. Academia generally celebrates independent thinking but the response of your specific adviser can vary depending on circumstances. I’m aware of multiple cases where the bet worked out very well and I’ve also personally experienced cases where it did not. For instance, I disagreed strongly with some advice Andrew Ng gave me in my very first year. I ended up working on a problem he wasn’t very excited about and, surprise, he turned out to be very right and I wasted a few months. Win some lose some :)
阻力晚凿。我還想提一下你的導(dǎo)師絕不可能是一貫正確的。我已經(jīng)見過或聽說過很多實(shí)例了瘦馍，現(xiàn)在回想起來歼秽，導(dǎo)師應(yīng)該為錯(cuò)誤負(fù)責(zé)。如果你在讀博士時(shí)覺得導(dǎo)師錯(cuò)了情组，有時(shí)候你應(yīng)該鼓起勇氣忽略導(dǎo)師的看法哲银。學(xué)術(shù)界普遍贊賞獨(dú)立思考，但你特定導(dǎo)師的回應(yīng)可能會(huì)隨著環(huán)境發(fā)生變化呻惕。我就知道一些賭一把最后得到了很好結(jié)果的例子荆责，而我個(gè)人也經(jīng)歷過一些效果并不好的例子。比如說亚脆，在我第一年的時(shí)候做院，我堅(jiān)決不同意吳恩達(dá)給我的一些建議。我最后開始研究一個(gè)他并不非常感興趣的問題濒持，但讓人驚訝的是键耕，事實(shí)證明他是非常正確的，而我則浪費(fèi)了幾個(gè)月時(shí)間柑营。吃一塹長(zhǎng)一智嘛 :)
Don’t play the game. Finally, I’d like to challenge you to think of a PhD as more than just a sequence of papers. You’re not a paper writer. You’re a member of a research community and your goal is to push the field forward. Papers are one common way of doing that but I would encourage you to look beyond the established academic game. Think for yourself and from first principles. Do things others don’t do but should. Step off the treadmill that has been put before you. I tried to do some of this myself throughout my PhD. This blog is an example - it allows me communicate things that wouldn’t ordinarily go into papers. The ImageNet human reference experiments are an example - I felt strongly that it was important for the field to know the ballpark human accuracy on ILSVRC so I took a few weeks off and evaluated it. The academic search tools (e.g. arxiv-sanity) are an example - I felt continuously frustrated by the inefficiency of finding papers in the literature and I released and maintain the site in hopes that it can be useful to others. Teaching CS231n twice is an example - I put much more effort into it than is rationally advisable for a PhD student who should be doing research, but I felt that the field was held back if people couldn’t efficiently learn about the topic and enter. A lot of my PhD endeavors have likely come at a cost in standard academic metrics (e.g. h-index, or number of publications in top venues) but I did them anyway, I would do it the same way again, and here I am encouraging others to as well. To add a pitch of salt and wash down the ideology a bit, based on several past discussions with my friends and colleagues I know that this view is contentious and that many would disagree.
不要饲郏滑頭。最后官套，我要讓你認(rèn)為 PhD 不只是一連串的論文酒奶。你不是一個(gè)論文寫手。你是科研界的意愿奶赔，你的目標(biāo)是推動(dòng)該領(lǐng)域向前發(fā)展惋嚎。論文是其中一種常見的做法，我建議你不要把目光放在已有的學(xué)術(shù)領(lǐng)域內(nèi)站刑。首先為自己想想另伍，做一些其他人沒有做但應(yīng)該做的事，遠(yuǎn)離別人在你之前已經(jīng)做出的成果绞旅。在我的整個(gè) PhD 階段我一直在嘗試這么做摆尝。這個(gè)博客就是一個(gè)例子——這讓我可以談?wù)撘恍┩ǔ２粫?huì)發(fā)在論文里面的東西。ImageNet 人類推理實(shí)驗(yàn)就是一個(gè)例子——我強(qiáng)烈地認(rèn)為因悲，在 ILSVRC 上知道人類大致的準(zhǔn)確度對(duì)該領(lǐng)域來說是非常重要的堕汞，所以我花了幾周時(shí)間對(duì)其進(jìn)行了評(píng)估。學(xué)術(shù)搜索工具（如 arxiv-sanity）也是一個(gè)例子——一直以來我都為論文文獻(xiàn)搜索的低效性感到沮喪囤捻，所以我發(fā)布并維護(hù)了這個(gè)站點(diǎn)以便對(duì)他人有所幫助臼朗。兩次參加 CS231n 教學(xué)也是一個(gè)例子——我在上面花了大量的精力，超過了一個(gè)應(yīng)該做研究的博士生的合理程度蝎土，但我認(rèn)為如果人們不能有效地學(xué)習(xí)這個(gè)主題和進(jìn)入這一領(lǐng)域视哑，這一領(lǐng)域的發(fā)展就會(huì)受到拖累。我的很多博士階段的工作都很有可能會(huì)犧牲一些標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的學(xué)術(shù)指標(biāo)（如 H 指數(shù)或在頂級(jí)會(huì)議上發(fā)表的數(shù)量）誊涯，但我還是做了那些事情挡毅，我還會(huì)同樣地再做那些事，在這里我也鼓勵(lì)其他人也這么做暴构。這可能言過其實(shí)了一點(diǎn)跪呈，除卻思想觀念上的一些東西，根據(jù)過去我與朋友和同事一些討論取逾，我知道這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)是存在爭(zhēng)議的耗绿，而且很多人也并不認(rèn)同。
- 限于簡(jiǎn)書篇幅原因砾隅，下文請(qǐng)見：[中/英雙語] Andrej Karpathy：A Survival Guide to a PhD （二）
（本文為自己整理學(xué)習(xí)收藏误阻，譯文部分參考機(jī)器之心翻譯（有一段翻譯漏掉了，自己加上去了晴埂，然后略作修改）究反，在此表示感謝。未經(jīng)允許禁止轉(zhuǎn)載儒洛，授權(quán)轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處精耐，謝謝！）
