Build Yourself Flowers

3 days ago

The author, Vicki, shares her journey of creating a talk about machine learning and art, highlighting the extensive time and effort involved in content creation and refinement.
She explores the existential questions facing machine learning engineers in the age of LLMs, questioning the value of traditional ML and the pursuit of technical excellence.
Using the analogy of Rachel Ruysch, a Dutch Golden Age flower painter, Vicki draws parallels between mastering a craft like painting and achieving technical excellence in software engineering.
She discusses the importance of data sense, mentorship, and deliberate practice, emphasizing that building quality systems takes time and continuous learning.
The author presents Rijksearch, a semantic search engine project, as a practical application of these principles, detailing the technical decisions and innovations involved.
Vicki reflects on the role of AI tools in her workflow, noting where they assisted (e.g., front-end code, data formatting) and where human expertise was crucial (e.g., architecture decisions, complex concepts).
The talk concludes by affirming the enduring importance of data sense, mastery, and craft in machine learning engineering, encouraging others to 'build themselves flowers' through dedicated practice.

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