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I sincerely feel for the author of this post, and am not really sure how to explain my reaction while still being supportive, but... Based on what the author is saying, part of me thinks imposter syndrome and bubble are both justifiable ways of thinking about what he's describing, but to me as an outsider the bigger problem it reveals is the way hiring and career development happens. Without exaggerating anything about me, or without this coming from a place of jealously (although I can't deny I'm a bit jealous), it seems that I could easily teach the course they're teaching, with a deeper understanding of the material, and more justification for teaching it in many ways. I know that if I taught that course it would be fairly easy and not really stressful--fun in fact. I've taught courses on equally complex stats and math, and published in related areas. And yet, there are no recruiters pounding on my door. If I applied for jobs most places would throw out my application for all sorts of reasons. This person seems competent enough, so I do think there's impostor syndrome going on. Part of what they're describing is a normal process of teaching higher ed for the first time. And there probably is a bubble--the stuff they're describing is part and parcel of hype that goes along with bubbles, and although extremely useful, I think there's also a lot of problems with AI being swept under the rug. This post really touches a nerve for me, because it gets at a problem with careers, at least in the US, which is that the bases of hiring decisions (and by hiring I mean broadly, not just as an employee) are so incredibly superficial. My guess is this person would function fine in AI, but I think anyone who knew me would have to bet that, between the two of us, I would be better qualified and better able to work in that area. But because this person taught an AI course at Stanford, they're more sought after than me, who doesn't even have a CS degree (although I do have a PhD) and certainly not a degree from an elite school. I'm really at a difficult place in my life because I'm at a point in my career where I should be happy, and lots of people would say I'm successful, but to me I feel professionally typecast and trapped, by stereotypes and superficial appraisals. All the time you hear admonishments that degrees don't matter, etc. but then the reality is, they not only matter but matter in the most superficial ways possible, where it's not just having a degree and publishing and doing research in closely related areas, but having a degree covering exactly what is the focus of a hot plasma-magnitude bubble, from an elite university no less. Most of the time at this point I just want a job that pays enough, and where I can live in a nice, comfortable safe place that I love. I've started to feel like the whole concept of meritocracy is a huge lie, and not because the people benefiting from it are incompetent--not because of false positives--but because of the huge problem of false negatives that lies in the shadows. |
https://huyenchip.com/