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•2 min read

I Want to Go to NeurIPS Someday

researchcareerdreams

neurips is happening right now and i'm watching from my laptop in sydney, feeling extremely far away from where the action is.

this is my manifesto about conference FOMO and career dreams.

what neurips is

neural information processing systems. the biggest machine learning conference in the world. thousands of researchers. hundreds of papers. all the big announcements.

everyone who's anyone in ML is there. or at least it feels that way from twitter.

why i care

part of it is pure FOMO. cool people doing cool things and i'm not there.

but mostly it's aspirational. i look at the papers being presented and think: i want to do that.

research that matters. ideas that change the field. being part of the conversation instead of just observing it.

the gap between here and there

current reality:

  • second year undergrad student
  • one summer research project
  • zero publications
  • zero conference attendances

what it takes to present at neurips:

  • significant research contribution
  • peer review survival
  • collaborators and mentorship
  • years of work

the gap is large. but gaps can be closed.

my very long-term plan

year 3 (next year): finish final project. do well. get good references.

year 4 (2025): start working. learn the ropes.

later: phd somewhere good. publish papers. build a body of work.

eventually: submit to neurips. get in. stand on stage. present something i'm proud of.

timeline: 5-10 years? who knows.

why writing this down matters

making goals explicit makes them real. i'm not just vaguely hoping for success—i'm naming a specific aspiration.

will it happen exactly like this? probably not. plans change. life happens.

but having a direction helps you notice opportunities. helps you make choices that align with where you want to go.

the immediate next steps

  • finish my thesis well
  • explore whether research is really what i want
  • apply to places that align with my interests
  • keep learning, keep building

neurips isn't going anywhere. and neither am i.

watched three neurips talks on youtube today. understood maybe 60%. that's up from 20% last year. progress.