一篇来自盐湖城的投稿（副标题：来自一位“学渣”的新鲜鸡汤）

来自不懒菜的啰嗦的前言：

说起盐湖城这个名字，我第一反应是想起了我初中时期花费在《福尔摩斯探案集》里面的那些日日夜夜，其中有一个故事我反复看了好几遍，印象中就是在盐湖城发生的（印象中还一个很彪悍的故事）。后来自己去了好几次美国，但每次的行程不是东海岸就是西海岸，都跟盐湖城这个地方没什么关系，身边也没有遇到任何人提到这个地方。

但是在最近很短的时间内，就有两个人跟我提起了盐湖城。一个人是selfighter，他们Defcon Group要搞的团聚出现了一个来自盐湖城的连线；另一个人就是今天这篇稿件的始作俑者，兼具智商与美貌的、搞人工智能的黎教授小姐姐。自从知道今年2050要搞百城连线这件事情以来，她就一直翻来覆去地叨叨自己有个摩门教的学生，人就在盐湖城，可以参加2050的城市连线。其实我也不知道为啥她对这个学生的事情这么兴奋，我猜大概是因为她自己原本对摩门教充满了各种各样的想象，结果遇到了这么一个学生之后发现他跟普通人好像也没啥两样？

总之，黎小姐姐最近自己写了一篇她跟2050的那些事儿之后，又去忽悠了她这位学生也写了一篇他跟2050的那些事儿，原因无他，因为这学生在2019年还真的来过2050现场。他财务状态好像并不怎么富裕，上学都是拿的助学金，但是为了来2050，竟然自己想方设法买了机票住宿还买了PASS来了杭州，也是挺有点魄力的。（黎教授：难道不是因为我的魅力？）

今天早上黎教授把稿子发给我看。

标题：“Give it a Try”: How Taking a Risk on AI Changed my Life

标题大意：人生不试试怎能行，看我在AI上的一次冒险是如何改变了我的人生（有点鸡汤的味道了）

作者：Porter Jenkins

我一眼就被这个作者名字吸引住了，因为我的确感到了惊讶：世界上原来还有人姓Jenkins这个姓？（我一直以来认识的Jenkins都是那个流行的CI软件，并没有见过其他的Jenkins，现在发现自己又孤陋寡闻了）

从头到尾看了两遍，我跟黎教授小姐姐感慨：你这位学生可真能写！

Anyway，废话就不多说了，直接上正文。

正文的语言当然是——英文啦！

“Give it a Try”: How Taking a Risk on AI Changed my Life

Porter Jenkins

April 2021

I grew up in a small town in rural Ohio, USA, where my life was very quiet and very average. All of my friends looked just like me, and most of them live within a few miles of where we grew up to this day.

（曾经我也只是一个普普通通的小孩，跟别人没啥两样……）

Ten years later, by a strange twist of fate, in April of 2019 I found myself in Hangzhou, China speaking to a packed crowd at the 2050 conference, giving an introduction to Artificial Intelligence. As I looked up from the stage, I could see faces in the crowd from all over the world; faces from China, India, Europe, and America. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. 

（谁知道十年后我会在杭州给一群来自世界各地的人讲什么人工智能入门？）

Jessie and I outside of 2050 in Hangzhou, China

（右边的就是黎小姐姐，左边的就是Jenkins）

When I was 18, like most young people, I was struggling to know what I wanted to do with my life. I was drawn towards mathematics because I felt it was objective: you can’t have two right answers when solving a math problem. Still searching for what I wanted to do with my life, I left University to serve as a missionary for the Mormon church, also called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had the unique opportunity to spend two years helping with humanitarian efforts for immigrants coming across the Mexican border into California. It greatly changed my perspective.

（一个曾经热爱数学的小孩子如何开始走上了一条为全人类做贡献的道路）

Eventually, I returned back to University to continue my education; deep down I knew that education would be the key to my success in life. By 2011, I noticed the world had changed since I had been away. Life seemed to be engulfed by technology. Everywhere I looked people were using smartphones, which at the time had only recently been invented. New and exciting technologies were changing how people interacted with each other. This was the so-called “big data” era, and I was captivated by it. I had an intuition that data would continue to change the world, and I wanted to be a part of it. So in 2012 I changed my major to Statistics. Here, I felt like I could learn the skills necessary to identify patterns and make predictions from data.

（结果绕了一大圈又掉进了“大数据”的坑里）

After graduation 2014, I took a job working with a team of data scientists building predictive models for banks. It was very interesting, but I quickly realized there was a lot I did not understand. 

（我虽然跟数据科学家一起工作，但我实在啥都不懂，）

One day, my boss, who was also a Finance professor, brought me into his office and said, “Porter, I think you should get a PhD.”

（但是我的金融教授老板竟然推荐我去读个PhD？！）

“That’s ridiculous”, I said, laughing under my breath. “I was a pretty average student in my Statistics program, I don’t think I’m smart enough to do a PhD.”

“Yes, you are”. He said. “You definitely have it in you... if you are willing to give it a try.”

（我说我智商不够读PhD，但老板说我只要愿意，我的智商就足够读PhD）

“Give it a try? That’s an interesting way to frame dedicating five years of your life to writing a dissertation” But deep down, I knew he was right.

（那就……试试呗？）

I’ve always felt like taking risks in life is prerequisite to do anything interesting. Before I knew it, I was investigating graduate schools and taking entrance exams. By 2016, I was enrolled in a PhD program at Penn State University, 2,000 miles away from where I was living in Utah. It was a big risk. My intent was to master techniques that could be used to learn “interesting” things from data. My friends, who were all economists, persuaded me to begin a PhD in marketing. 

（然后我就真的去读了PhD）

（我的朋友们——不知为啥都是搞经济学的——都撺掇我去读marketing的PhD）

Historically, Marketing has not been a data-driven field. However, over the past decade or so, a deluge of marketing data has changed how people view connecting consumers with products. Unfortunately, after two semesters I realized that Marketing was not for me. Despite massive amounts of data at their fingertips, marketers still tend towards simplistic economic models. They study the data, but in the end, theories are what interest them. I was unhappy and considered dropping out. 

（我听他们的话读了两个学期之后觉得这个死理论派的学科实在太坑了，一点儿也不data-driven，都想跑路了）

Meanwhile, I was taking every computing class I could related to Artificial Intelligence. I found it captivating; I realized that teaching machines to amazing things through interacting with massive datasets was exactly what I wanted to do. At the time, I was also homesick, so I applied to another University near my family in Utah, this time for a Master’s in Computer Science. But I was rejected. 

（然后我把不想去读marketing的时间都用来学计算机啦）

（AI真的有意思！）

（但是当我申请去读计算机硕士的时候，我被拒了）

Feeling somewhat hopeless, in my third semester I took a Data Mining course from Zhenhui (Jessie) Li. I quickly fell in love with the concepts she was teaching. After a few weeks, I made another risky move: I asked Jessie if I could join her research lab. It’s quite uncommon for students to change their PhD major, but I thought I would at least “give it a try.” 

（就在这绝望的时刻，黎小姐姐带着她的数据挖掘课程出现在了我的面前！）

（我真的超爱听她的课！）

（几个星期后我鼓起勇气问黎小姐姐能不能去她的实验室）

“What’s the worst that could happen?” I asked myself. “She says no?”

（反正死猪不怕开水烫，就算被拒了又能咋地？）

Jessie took a big gamble, but she did accept me into her lab. I was an unproven marketing student, trying to join her research lab in Computer Science. Compared to her other students, I felt like an “imposter.” But I was lucky she believed in me. I worked very hard to catch up and improve my computing skills. By 2019, I even landed an internship at a top American social media company in San Francisco. 

（黎小姐姐竟然同意了！她同意了我这个marketing学渣加入了她的计算机实验室！）

（经过不懈的努力我终于在知名大厂找到了一份实习工）

Jessie visiting me at the Pinterest HQ, in downtown San Francisco

In the fall of 2019, I returned to campus excited from my summer as a software engineer at Pinterest. I had performed well and they made me a full-time offer to return after I graduated. I met with Jessie to discuss the details of my graduation so I could go work at Pinterest. Going into the meeting, my goal was to convince her to let me graduate the following summer. 

（然后知名大厂给了我一个全职offer）

（于是我去跟黎小姐姐商量能不能让我快点毕业，最好明年夏天）

As I laid out my plans, Jessie was quiet and just listened. When I was done “convincing” her she said, “have you considered applying for a faculty job?”

（结果黎小姐姐居然问我要不要考虑以后干脆就走学术路线？）

“A faculty job?”, I nearly laughed out loud as I repeated her question. I literally thought she was making a joke. “No, definitely not.” I responded. “There’s just no chance.”

（开什么玩笑！像我这种学渣怎么可能争取到教职呢？）

Academic jobs in the United States are very competitive, and felt like my publication record was below most candidates in the market. 

（米国的学术竞争真的很激烈，我的论文数量又实在不咋地）

Jessie responded and said, “I think you can just give it a try. What’s the harm in trying?” 

（黎小姐姐又说了：试试又能咋地呢？）

Recalling a friend from her PhD program that didn’t have many papers, but landed a top job at Notre Dame University, she gave me a few tips to improve my chances. I did everything she said.

（我忽然想起了我也有一位学术上挺成功的学渣朋友）

（于是我就真的去试了）

By summer early 2020, I was actively interviewing with a handful of Universities, in Utah, where my wife is from. But, like the rest of the world, my plans were derailed by the pandemic. Most universities were implementing hiring freezes in anticipation of the economic hardships most states in the US were likely to incur. But I kept trying. By autumn of 2020, I had a series of final interviews set up with my Alma Mater, Brigham Young University. Ultimately, the faculty liked my research and made me an offer as assistant professor in the Computer Science department! 

（虽然运气不好遇上了疫情，我还是努力尝试）

（后来真的有大学要我去做计算机系助教了！）

When I look back, it truly was an improbable sequence of events. My nonlinear path led me through Mathematics, Statistics, Marketing, to Hangzhou China, San Francisco, and finally to the Computer Science halls of BYU. Now I do exciting academic research in AI, and have collaborated with startups building AI technology for Coca-Cola. My path simply could not have been predicted when it began. But each time I was faced with a difficult decision, I was always willing to “give it a try”, take a risk and try something new.

（所以我这几年的经历证明，试试看总是可以试试的）

Jessie’s research lab, in April 2018

（这就是黎小姐姐的实验室成员）

I feel like my story is a key part of what 2050 is about: bringing people together to change the world through technology. My small world was changed because I had great mentors, like Jessie, who believed in me. And now I try to impact the world by creating new, data-driven technology. 

（2050让科技把人团聚在一起，我觉着我就是这么个经历）

（感谢黎小姐姐的支持与信任）

I hope that any young person who might be reading this might be inspired by my story. I am an average person who has worked hard, and never been afraid of trying new things. Amazing events have unfolded in my life as a result. Whatever it is you’re passionate about, never be afraid to “give it a try”, and build the future you long for.

（希望我这碗鸡汤大家喝得愉快！）