From prompt-copying to inference infra in 2 years: 'everyone is just figuring it out'
haydendevs · x · 2026-11-07
An ML engineer shares her pivot: two years ago she only knew how to prompt Sonnet 3.5 and paste outputs into files; today she mostly works on inference infrastructure.
- The industry's big secret: many practitioners are figuring things out as they go, reading the same free papers anyone can access.
- Strong math/CS backgrounds help but aren't required — her colleagues include people from untraditional backgrounds.
- Advice: pick what interests you and start; locally hosting models is a great first step. Talk to practitioners — everyone is just tinkering.
A useful encouragement post for non-traditional entrants to AI/ML.
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