
Google Brain Residency Program - keveman
http://g.co/brainresidency
======
pookeh
Given questionable academia politics, low to non-existent pay for PhD
candidates as TAs, grants being mostly consumed by the school, profs acting as
middle managers rather than true mentors, race to the bottom for quantity over
quality of papers because of desperate PhD qualifications in order to then
jump start careers (not to mention wasteful research for the sake of a PhD
badge)...I think this is a great initiative.

~~~
balladeer
Such examples and on one of those grad forums and other places like Reddit
about how horrible and how political grad programs are (I mean PhD mostly) I
must say it added a lot to my decision of not trying for a PhD (maybe ever).

Is it an accepted environment in academia by now and very widely known and
people still go for the same environment? Or people, students, don't know how
it is actually there, or the severity of it, and then kind of get trapped
because of that mild ignorance, so to speak? Or, is it just the hope that - oh
that place cannot be that bad? Or is it really not this widespread as people
make it out to be, or as it seems to be (to me at least)? Just curious (I'm
not a grad school guy; just an MS aspirant who also wanted to do a PhD but now
not).

~~~
danieldk
_Or, is it just the hope that - oh that place cannot be that bad? Or is it
really not this widespread as people make it out to be, or as it seems to be
(to me at least)? Just curious_

I did my PhD in The Netherlands. I had an awesome time, both professionally
and socially. I worked with great people, had a great social life, and wasn't
paid badly (for Dutch standards).

Afterwards, I was in industry for a short time. Upside: people directly use
what you create. Downside: in most companies (outside Google, Microsoft
Research, etc.) urgent customer demands prevail over research time.

Given the relatively negative experiences I went to academia again (this time
in Germany), and am enjoying it a lot: enough time to work out and test ideas,
I enjoy teaching a lot, regular travel, a reasonable pay, and not much
overtime.

I might explore the other side of the fence again when my current position
ends, but I am happy where I am.

~~~
rattray
May I ask your language abilities? Would a route like this work for people who
don't speak Dutch/German?

~~~
danieldk
I am a native speaker of Dutch and proficient in English. My German reading
and understanding is quite good, since I had German in high school, but
speaking had regressed to a 'can manage at the bakery'-level ;).

Both groups I worked in had a fair amount of people who couldn't speak
Dutch/German --- for research it's definitely not a problem. In teaching it
seems that The Netherlands (and probably Scandinavian countries) is more
flexible: non-native speakers are typically allowed to teach in English. In
Germany, this seems more problematic unless it's an international program.

Outside work, I would definitely recommend expats in Germany to learn German.
Most Germans are not really proficient in English (not even general
practitioners). In The Netherlands you could easily survive without knowing
Dutch.

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m0dc
At what point does it make sense for Google-likes to educate their own
workforce, skipping the university model entirely? They've already created a
B.A. substitute by sponsoring Udacity's nanodegree programs, and now they're
working on the other end of the spectrum with a masters / PhD equivalent.

Assume these companies have an excellent selection process (obviously a big
'if'). Could they pluck bright students straight out of high school, send them
to two years of specialized super-accelerated Google School, and have a molded
and productive employee come out the other side? They have the resources and
the expertise, and there's only so many Stanford grads each year.

A workforce of bootcamp devs sounds unpleasant - but with skyrocketing tuition
costs, and ever-increasing demand for 'only the best' talent at these
companies, there's probably a point at which it makes economic sense for both
employer and employee.

~~~
awch
Would it be possible for companies to eventually become accredited?

Or, alternatively, would the preponderance of nanodegree programs and "Google
Schools" diminish the value of a traditional degree to the point that
accreditation would be unnecessary?

~~~
neovive
I agree that the increasing investment and quality of alternative higher
education models will diminish the role of traditional accreditation agencies
to some degree. However, there will always be some need for some third-party
oversight to ensure educational institutions are delivering what they
advertise.

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compactmani
I stopped here: The residency program is similar to a top Master’s or PhD
program in deep learning.

If you accept that a Master's program is contained within a PhD program, and
this residency is similar to a PhD program in deep learning from a top school,
then this would be the fastest PhD-like (revised from equivalent which is too
strong of a claim) program ever. Only 12 months and a google badge!

~~~
niels_olson
I submit the connections at Google are unbelievable. It seems reasonable that
you could in fact learn substantially faster in that environment. I don't know
if you can cram 6-7 years into one, but maybe in 2-3.

~~~
jofer
A PhD isn't so much about learning the material as it is about learning to
manage and complete projects. Your job is to identify unsolved problems, come
up with ideas to solve them, and carry it through to a few completed research
projects. Depending on your field, a lot of this can become more managing
logistics and people than "pure" research.

In my experience (which, admittedly, has only involved much less flexible
corporations than Google), you don't get to the level of responsibility you
have as a PhD student or postdoc until you've been with a large corporation
for >20 years.

I admit I have a slightly skewed view, but I've very skeptical that this is
anywhere close to a complete PhD program.

It looks a lot more like a 1-year internship on an R&D team. Still a very good
and useful thing, but you're not the one responsible for completion of
projects.

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MBlume
The post doesn't indicate whether residents will be paid like PhD students or
like Google employees.

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wpietri
From the title, I thought the Google Brain Residency Program was the wetware
version of Google Glass. Disappointing to find it's only a 12-month software
development job.

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j_juggernaut
This is fantastic! Though it's not clear how much product/service engineering
is required.

~~~
an0nym1ty
It seems to be listed as a software engineering position (and are likely paid
through the same construct, since participants are required to be eligible for
work in the US). I would think they are paid as entry level software
engineers, but that's all conjecture.

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5ersi
This is going to be a deal breaker for many: Eligible to work in the United
States

~~~
udswagz
very true, but am not very sure what it means. You think one can apply for a
visa especially for someone who has never been to the United States before?

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epberry
Anyone know if this will this be a recurring program? As in beyond 2016?

~~~
Harimwakairi
Probably depends on the performance of the initial resident. :)

~~~
personjerry
Did you write "resident", as in implying there's only one position?

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struct
Minimum qualifications: eligible to work in the United States. Damn.

~~~
krallistic
just to clarify does that mean you should already have a work permit, or
eligible to apply for the common visa's? I would expect the first but i
couldn’t find any clear definition in the past since it changed from case to
case

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wangdelp
Are people currently doing their PhD eligible for the program? Thx

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invictusmaneo
So, What about after the program?

