[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Where to find domain experts for 1:1 tutoring?
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       Ask HN: Where to find domain experts for 1:1 tutoring?
        
       I'm looking to get a crash course on a few topics and am hoping to
       do that by sitting down with domain experts for intensive 1:1
       sessions. Has anyone here approached learning in a similar way, and
       if so, how did you go about sourcing experts? Currently looking for
       an AI expert.
        
       Author : deeptechdreamer
       Score  : 13 points
       Date   : 2024-08-28 21:27 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
       | kcirerick wrote:
       | It depends on how much money you have. You could pretty easily
       | pay someone on Intro to spend some time with you, but experts can
       | be crazy expensive. You could also just do a ton of cold email
       | with very specific questions and build your own network of
       | mentors. I'm sure posting stuff like this on various forums could
       | also end with someone volunteering their time.
       | 
       | The more specific you can be with what you want to learn, the
       | better off you'll be though. "AI expert" is still pretty broad.
       | 
       | "Life punishes the vague wish and rewards the specific ask"
        
         | beefnugs wrote:
         | yeah sadly capitalism is brutal about this. In the past
         | mentoring and apprenticeship was based on the fact a business
         | owner can get years of cheap labour out of you.
         | 
         | The economics dont really math out with software development,
         | because to be a good software developer usually means you are
         | smart enough to see when you are being exploited and nope out
         | as soon as possible.
         | 
         | Then mentioning AI is an even deeper layer of "nobody wants you
         | to know the tricks that is making them scam money"
        
       | brudgers wrote:
       | Within reason consultants will usually do what their clients
       | request modulo sufficient project budgets. That often includes
       | training. Good luck.
        
       | tomashertus wrote:
       | Heh, a couple of years ago, I had an idea for an "Uber for
       | Experts." It would provide a similar experience to Uber, but
       | instead of a ride, you'd get 30 minutes with a domain expert of
       | your choosing. I never got around to working on it, but there
       | might still be an opportunity for something like this.
        
         | joshdavham wrote:
         | Might honestly not be the worst idea!
         | 
         | People could put up basic profiles with their skills listed and
         | you could purchase a time slot with them. It'd be relatively
         | low commitment for both the experts and also the advice
         | seekers.
         | 
         | Some technical problems might be verifying expertise but this
         | could be handled with a sort of social proof like how LinkedIn
         | allows users to vouch for certain skills. In fact you could
         | probably facilitate account creation by pulling from the
         | LinkedIn api.
         | 
         | But yeah, good luck if you build it!
        
           | rm_-rf_slash wrote:
           | I agree. I'd like to be able to share my knowledge from time
           | to time for a small fee and little hassle on my part.
           | 
           | I made some money on Codementor for a time and enjoyed it
           | while I was between jobs, but wasn't easy to balance that
           | with FTE so I dropped it after a while.
        
       | Apreche wrote:
       | I would love to teach these kinds of sessions. But I have to have
       | the time, it has to be a subject I know well, and I need to be
       | fairly compensated.
       | 
       | Sorry, not an AI expert.
        
       | jononor wrote:
       | https://Codementor.io is a platform designed for exactly that. I
       | am registered as a mentor there, though not so active. I have not
       | used it as a mentee, so cannot vouch for the process or mentor
       | pool though.
       | 
       | AI is very broad, what exactly are you wishing to
       | learn/build/accomplish and where are you in the process?
       | 
       | I specialize in ML that intersects with time-series, sensor/IoT
       | data and audio. Info in profile if anyone is interested.
        
       | rm_-rf_slash wrote:
       | You might have better luck at local events for likeminded
       | professionals and network from there. Most people who are worth
       | their salt won't likely want to teach their craft to a rando on
       | the internet. Nothing personal, there's just too much to do.
       | 
       | It would help to know what your objectives are with learning more
       | about AI. Otherwise we can only guess at your motivations.
        
       | ilaksh wrote:
       | https://www.perplexity.ai/ seriously. Or try just literally
       | asking Claude.
       | 
       | I am an "AI expert" in the sense that I have been focused on
       | applying generative AI for the last two years, (since we had
       | useful general purpose LLMs).
       | 
       | Give me an idea of what you are trying to do and I will give you
       | search terms to put in Perplexity or Claude or ChatGPT or
       | whatever.
       | 
       | You are not going to find anything close to what you would get as
       | far as value for mentoring as you would with LLM tools like I
       | mentioned.
        
       | ghotli wrote:
       | I have an old boss that calls me from time to time. Maybe I'll
       | just call him an old friend at this point. He lives by the
       | philosophy that you put in the work and you debug your thinking
       | by bouncing the context you've built up off of experts. Sometimes
       | he shoots a cool hundred my way thereafter, sometimes he doesn't.
       | Most of the time we're just catching up.
       | 
       | This works for him and tbh it works for me too. I guess my advice
       | is that the important part is not sourcing the expert it's
       | putting in the work to come with enough context to get something
       | out of talking to an expert and to leave them without the feeling
       | like you've wasted their time. Follow people on the socials, read
       | their code, show up at a NeurIPS with actual good questions to
       | ask people in person on the hallway track.
       | 
       | Without the _hard work up front to get good questions to ask_
       | you're in danger of finding a good expert and them deciding
       | you're just another starry eyed kid that doesn't know for just
       | how many years longer you wouldn't even pass the screening call
       | for an interview.
       | 
       | Just my two cents, hope this helps!
        
         | ghaff wrote:
         | That sounds pretty good. Someone I know, calls me for a take,
         | maybe offers a dinner, etc, sure. Even sounds like fun. A
         | transactional 1:1 domain expert call, less so. I have done them
         | from time to time but it's either been as a favor or
         | prospecting for future business but isn't really a business
         | model in either case.
        
       | keyle wrote:
       | Just "start doing it" and quickly you'll run into a wall, ask for
       | help with a legitimate question that isn't vague like "teach me
       | about x".
       | 
       | Solve that problem and move onto the next. Via a string of
       | problem fixes you gain more domain knowledge and you'll retain
       | more as you struggled through it and deeply understood it.
        
       | BoredTempo wrote:
       | I'm personally using wyzant.com to get some help for a
       | certification right now.
       | 
       | I will say the quality of the tutors varies wildly so you may
       | have to do some digging depending on the specific domain.
       | 
       | I was able to find someone who currently works at the company the
       | certification is through and it has been very helpful.
       | 
       | I will note that the whiteboard on the site is pretty bad so we
       | just use something else.
        
       | waveBidder wrote:
       | So only applicable for students, but office hours are frequently
       | extremely under-utilized, and professors love to talk about their
       | subject of interest.
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-28 23:01 UTC)