Weekly Update: Progress and New Goals
\This week hasn’t been as productive as I hoped, but there have been some notable accomplishments. I’ve been consistently keeping up with my goal of doing one LeetCode problem a day! Since I’m studying for the Oracle Java SE 8 Programmer II certification, I’ve been tackling these problems in Java. Java used to intimidate me, but I’ve recently gained a new appreciation for the language. I’m now confident I can write code without relying too heavily on my IDE’s help—though I still encounter a few syntax errors from time to time. While Python is still faster for me, there’s something satisfying about coding in Java.
Speaking of the certification, UCF is covering the exam fee, which is an amazing opportunity. I plan to spend this week researching good study materials and potentially purchasing a book to help me prepare.
As for my Senior Design Project, I didn’t have much time for it during the weekdays, but I did manage to dedicate some time to it today. Over the week, I also watched some videos about Large Language Models (LLMs), and I found one particularly fascinating. It’s incredible to think that behind the scenes of GPT-4, it’s just a bunch of matrices! I’m still not very familiar with the mathematics behind it, but I’m definitely intrigued.
Following recommendations from my team sponsor, I’ve started a Coursera course called Large Language Model Operations (LLMOps) Specialization. I’ve completed half of the first module, which is an introduction to generative AI. It covers the history of AI, how models like GPT-3 work, and the concept of “prompt engineering,” which I’ve been doing naturally but didn’t know had a formal name. One key takeaway is that LLMs don’t really “think” or “create”—they generate text based on probabilities and the data they’ve been trained on. I also learned some advanced prompt engineering techniques, like placing the task description at the beginning and end of the prompt to maintain context, and providing a few examples to give the model more context. I’m excited to dive deeper into this course and understand more about LLMs.
For next week, I have a few goals in mind:
Complete half of the Coursera course
Start studying for the Java certification exam, especially tackling topics like concurrency, which I didn’t even know Java had!
Keep up with my LeetCode-a-day streak
Possibly start a fun Java project to refine my skills
That’s it for this week! Looking forward to making more progress and checking in again next week.