I truly truly wish you the best of luck in your futile endeavor.
My wife HATES all her apple products but still won't switch. Similarly, while I love Macbooks, iPhones make me sick and developing for them is like Apple personally giving you (the dev) the middle finger every time there's an update.
I don't know the solution. Wish I did. Wish the internet was as free and wild as it used to be. But you could have a foghorn go off on an iphone every 3 seconds and people still wouldn't switch.
Can you explain where this wierd wish to talk about Apple in unrelated articles comes from? There's always one of you around that need to run an apple pitch in every topic where it's not needed or desired.
No. I would give the same advice to an 18 year old. I can't speak for aerospace, but can expertly speak on BCI, medtech and AI. And bank security.
What I would honestly recommend doing is a bootcamp for full stack, or even just backend or frontend, or native, React Native, etc. Start there. You must learn the basics of code first. Not only that, but you will need to know how a non-academic team works. Github for starters. Also if anyone ever tells you that "elegant" code in one line is better than "readable" code in 10 lines, punch them for me. That is not how reality works in the workplace. Clear variable names. Clear function names. An understandable architecture for what is trying to be accomplished. These are the most important things, not reducing a perfectly understandable algorithm to something akin to calculus.
I actually made some of the first BCIs for the PC a long time ago, but already was a certified architect in C#, Microsoft, etc. These days you want to go for Node/JS or Go or Java, etc. Once you learn one language it is simple to learn another, particularly C-based languages (JS/TypeScript/C#/Java/ObjC/Swift and so on - notably they use brackets instead of indents or words to denote functions and objects.
I used to do AI work, but mainly medtech these days like digital therapeutics, and paradoxically I also do bank security (startup I was working with got bought by a bank, thus the disparity between the two. hey, you make friends along the way, help them out, and occasionally a hustle becomes your job)
I highly recommended becoming intimately aquatinted with databases, both relational and otherwise. And learn how to optimize them. You WILL have to work with a relational database at some point and thus you will need to learn SQL, indexing, etc.
Along the journey of my life, I've become quite the physicist and like to think I have a deeper understanding of math than most people. The only benefit I see to a degree is you might learn some of that. Physics, signal processing (from an EEG for example), and so on, are unavoidable. HOWEVER, there are a TON of libraries that will do all of that for you, and along the way you will learn it. I highly doubt anyone writes their own Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) these days, but to use it you have to understand how it works, what it's giving you, and what it's not, in order to avoid egregious mistakes. I've had to correct many people on what a Fourier transform actually does, many of them who have related doctorates. There are some truly stupid highly credentialed people in the world. IMO even the wikipedia article on it has some serious mistakes.
Honestly? Everything you need to know you can learn yourself online very cheaply through online courses. Get yourself a mentor or two. People LOVE teaching others. A bootcamp, however, will land you your first job.
As far as getting a job, when it comes to programming or engineering, "the proof is in the pudding". I've interviewed hundreds of programmers. At first I read all about their achievements at MIT and all of what they are experts in. But, in the end, EVERY INTERVIEW will consist of a live coding session. 90% of the people I interviewed could not write a solution to total softball questions like, "Alphabetize this text" or "Parse this JSON". I would even let them google and they still couldn't do it. I've had people right out of bootcamp that were better coders than the most highly credentialed CS graduates.
Which brings me to my final notes:
1) Live code as much as possible. Learn to love it. I failed the crap out of my first live coding interview, but faced my fear and now I'm the only one in the bank department I'm in that live codes. As I'm sure you can imagine, product and design LOVE IT.
2) FORGET ABOUT LEETCODE or any other such crap. If I was ever given a leetcode question in an interview I would tell them point blank that people just memorize the answers to these, they are not applicable to real-life application, and then I would walk out because that company is clearly not serious.
3) Whiteboard interviews are also going to happen. Super easy. Flow chart with how the frontend connects to the backend, branching enough into each until they know you know what you're talking about.
4) Don't forget the old school! If someone asks you what "PUT" means in a request and you don't know the answer, that's pretty embarrassing. Learn about basic networking, from old to new.
5) LEARN DEFENSIVE CODING: This will give you a leg up because I've never met a programmer who knew it who hadn't also been a hacker at some point in their life. Basically what this means is how to reduce vulnerabilities, but also how to straight up trick would-be hackers. For example, error messages. If you have an error message that says "License invalid", it will be ludicrously easy to find that string and thus where the license code is likely to be. Instead, screw with them. Say your program detects that a user has hacked into your app, if you simply cause a crash or exit that just gives them an easy way to find and remove the problem. Instead, perhaps there is a commonly used number in your app. Change it so they get weird data. Or maybe division of numbers is needed at some point. Change the divisor to 0 to cause a random crash. Some defensive coders will simply use a timer, set it to a random value, and then cause a crash in some way. Whatever you decide to do, use multiple defensive techniques, and always always screw with the hacker so they have no easy way to determine where to look to bypass your protections.
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Ok so I've overwhelmed you and you may be rethinking your decision. Don't. Jump right in! Learn as you go, keeping the above advice in mind, and you will succeed. Take a few courses on the basics of the actual reality of working in the private sector, so you know the basics of github, but make no mistake: show me a coder that says he doesn't google at least once a week, I'll show you a damn liar.
As far as aerospace, I've no clue. I have friends at NASA who are bored out of their minds, but the are all credentialed. Even so, the exactly University you go to barely matters, as far as I can see. Again, coding and the understanding of fundamental concepts is something that can and will be tested during an interview, and maybe even before the interview with a take-home project or a general phone call.
Above all, have confidence in yourself, and walk out of an interview that is stupid or has a bad culture. EVERYONE has imposter syndrome. Make THEM court you. I've straight up never gotten a job I wrote a cover letter for. Usually out of some company that is truly interested calls YOU. They can see your resume on LinkedIn like everyone else. Which reminds me, up your LinkedIn game big time. Yeah yeah everyone hates it but you start writing things, people invite you on podcasts, the snowball starts rolling.
It's pending publication, but it'll get there. And now we have enough info to start a double blind. Sleep one is also pending publication.
The HRV (stress/anxiety) trial is already published, and was completely independent. We didn't even know about it until it was published. There's more in the science section too.
I remember when that Lumosity BS came out. We'd been around for 4 years already at that point. Now that it's finally us taking off, we're pouring everything into the science. We're going to do this right.
(oh, sorry, I just realized I'd already replied to you above. I'll leave this here though, for anyone who's interested)
Hi Adam, I love that you did an RCT. What journal did this get published in?
I've been using Brain.FM since yesterday, first with speakers in another room, then with speakers in my office and separated by about 2m, and finally today with Bose noise canceling headphones (I can kind of hear the 3d effect, but it is vastly outweighed by my ears overheating in the headphones). I liked #2 the best; some tracks the 3d effect was pronounced. I tend to like the percussion tracks a lot more --- going back to the webpage to skip etc is a pain. Why not provide a list of effects that you can select from and if I hate violin (bad example) then I can exclude tracks that use it.
In the past I've used rain / thunderstorm recordings. I have a Marpac noise machine with a actual mechanical fan inside. I found that machine great for sleep - but then I had a baby and she confiscated it for her own use :-)
So much inspiration in this thread. I mentioned this further down the page, but it's a hobby of mine to ask what music people work to.
This is a goldmine for me.
Thanks a lot for posting, and for trying it out. Would love to hear your feedback, or anyone else's from this thread. Email me any time. Just my first name and brain.fm.
Next week I go back to working on more music themes. We hired a new guy a month ago and he's ready to take over the app, so, this is perfect timing.
Let's see what me and the AI-guy can come up with. :)
This is actually great feedback. I can definitely create some trance, house, etc. There is techno/electronic music already in there, but only at around 120bpm, and probably won't be as bass-intensive or dramatic as you're used to.
Junaid my co-founder shares a lot of your taste, and so does my sister, so I have a few willing guinea pigs :)
I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWING ANY WRITTEN CONFIRMATION STATEMENTS PROVIDED TO ME (ON PAPER OR IN ELECTRONIC FORM) REGARDING ANY INSTRUCTIONS, CHOICES, OR REQUESTS THAT I MAKE THROUGH THIS WEB SITE. I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWING FOR INACCURACIES ALL OF THE INFORMATION TRANSMITTED TO ME. IF THERE ARE INACCURACIES, I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR CORRECTING THEM USING THE TOOLS AVAILABLE TO ME ON THE WEB SITE OR BY CONTACTING THE BENEFITS CENTER TO POINT THEM OUT.
Here's Amazon:
AMAZON ATTEMPTS TO BE AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER, AMAZON DOES NOT WARRANT THAT PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS OR OTHER CONTENT OF ANY AMAZON SERVICE IS ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT, OR ERROR-FREE. IF A PRODUCT OFFERED BY AMAZON ITSELF IS NOT AS DESCRIBED, YOUR SOLE REMEDY IS TO RETURN IT IN UNUSED CONDITION.
And here's Pfizer:
PFIZER MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS OF ANY KIND AS TO THE ACCURACY, CURRENCY, OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED IN SUCH WEB SITES AND SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES OR INJURIES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM SUCH CONTENT OR INFORMATION.
I mean, I can talk to my lawyer about changing it if you really think it's that bad. :)
Nah I mean I just read it and it basically gives the impression that there's no merit to the claims and any and all results are subject to personal interpretation.
Or, to put it in more simple terms pending peer reviewed, refereed scientific findings, Brain.Fm is the HeadOn of audio.
OK fair enough, I'll see if we can get a better one then.
Honest to god we just used a standard one we got over a decade ago, and customized it with our name. We might have even gotten it off of legal zoom or something.
- The HRV/(stress/anxiety) study is peer-reviewed (and independent, we had no part in it).
- All our other papers are pending publication.
- Giovanni's work on acoustic stimulation is peer reviewed, and from Northwestern. Again, we had no part in that.
- The meta-analysis one of our previous neuroscientists made is also peer reviewed.
I think maybe you were thinking of a different site link, because this is the first time we've been on HackerNews to my knowledge, and our shortest sessions are 15 minutes, and they never loop. If I'm wrong then really sorry about a bad experience, must have been a bug. Give it another shot if you have a moment :)
To my great surprise, silence is actually the worst performer in our research and for other researchers I've talked to. check out our focus study, and also if you hit the "more" button you can see a kind of bibliography (that we need to organize better).
Silence can be a distraction in itself. Counter-intuitive, I know. I actually think I remember an article about this popping up in my news feed recently, trying to explain why. I was in a hurry so couldn't really read it, but I'll try to find it again after all this craziness dies down :)
But anyway, everyone's different, and different situations call for different tools. When the noise level is just too high for me (like, construction outside, vacuuming, etc) I use those crazy earmuffs meant for gun ranges. A shopvac could be right next to your ear and you wouldn't notice hah
> [no evidence that] altering the brain waves changes the actual functioning of the brain
That post was from a while ago, so I'm not sure if he's updated his opinion, but there's plenty of evidence that changing brain waves affects the functioning of the brain. I feel I should have Giovanni respond to that specifically so I'll get him on here as soon as he's available.
> There is no compelling evidence for any effect beyond the period of entrainment itself.
There is evidence for it, but at any rate we're not claiming that. We're helping people sleep or relax while they listen, helping them focus while they listen.
> does this impart any more benefit than me listening to my favorite working music whilst working?
I'd be super interested to find out! In the study we did on our focus sessions, we compared very similar music - still generated by the AI actually. We have the unique ability to create a sham that sounds nearly identical to the experiment, due to the way we "disguise" the stimulation as vibrato, tremolo, normal instrumental vibrations, electronic LFOs, and so on. So we opted for that instead of letting them choose something from spotify, etc. I actually think we would have gotten a much greater result in that case, because the AI-generated music - although not containing "entraining" modulations - still obeyed rules designed to keep the music from being distracting (no lyrics or abrupt stops, volume consistency, avoiding certain frequency ranges (pitches), and so on). Even so, if you find your existing music to work, why switch? Give both a try, see what you think, base your decision on results. Or use both, depending on how you feel? Today I coded to Queen and then Brain.fm and then some Motown. I especially love video game soundtracks like Chrono Cross, WarcraftIII, Wipeout... Brain.fm is there if I need an extra boost.
I'd love to hear what you listen to? Kind of a hobby of mine to collect people's work music :)
Sure! I spent some time looking through my library. Here's some, but there are more. There's some I really wanted to show you but will take more time to get the actual reference. Sorry, if you're interested, please email us when all this craziness is over :) Also apologies about the lack of consistent formatting or alphabetizing :)
Oudiette, D., G. Santostasi, and K.A. Paller, Reinforcing rhythms in the sleeping brain with a computerized metronome. Neuron, 2013. 78(3): p. 413-5.
Santostasi, G., R. Malkani, B. Riedner, M. Bellesi, G. Tononi, K.A. Paller, et al., Phase-locked loop for precisely timed acoustic stimulation during sleep. J Neurosci Methods, 2016. 259: p. 101-14.
Tononi, G., B.A. Riedner, B.K. Hulse, F. Ferrarelli, and S. Sarasso, Enhancing sleep slow waves with natural stimuli. . Medica Mundi, 2010. 54(2): p. 73–79.
Joyce, M. and Siever, D., 2000. "Audio-Visual Entrainment (AVE) Program as a Treatment for Behavior Disorders in a School Setting." Journal of Neurotherapy. 4, 9-25.
Berg, K., and Siever, D., 2009. "A controlled comparison of audio-visual entrainment for treating Seasonal Affective Disorder." Journal of Neurotherapy 13.3 (2009): 166-175.
Ossebaard, H. C., 2000. "Stress reduction by technology? An experimental study into the effects of brainmachines on burnout and state anxiety." Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 25, 93-101.
Huang TL1, Charyton C. 2008 A comprehensive review of the psychological effects of brainwave entrainment. Altern Ther Health Med. 2008 Sep-Oct;14(5):38-50.
R Olmstead Use of auditory and visual stimulation to improve cognitive abilities in learning-disabled children. Journal of Neurotherapy, 2005
Ong, J.L., J.C. Lo, N.I. Chee, i.G. Santostas, K.A. Paller, P.C. Zee, et al., Effecsts of Phase-Locked Acoustic Stimulation During a Nap On EEG Spectra and Declarative Memory Consolidation.
Ngo, H.V., T. Martinetz, J. Born, and M. Molle, Auditory closed-loop stimulation of the sleep slow oscillation enhances memory. Neuron, 2013. 78(3): p. 545-53.
With photic stimulation:
San Martini, P., Venturini, R., Zapponi, G. A. and Loizzo, A., 1979." Interaction between intermittent photic stimulation and auditory stimulation on the human EEG. Preliminary investigation through power spectral analysis." Neuropsychobiology. 5, 201-206.
Kumano, H., Horie, H., Kuboki, T., Suematsu, H., Sato, H., Yasushi, M., Kamei, T. and Masumura, S., 1997. "EEG-driven photic stimulation effect on plasma cortisol and beta-endorphin." Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 22, 193-208.
Nomura, T., Higuchi, K., Yu, H., Sasaki, S., Kimura, S., Itoh, H., Taniguchi, M., Arakawa, T. and Kawai, K., 2006. "Slow-wave photic stimulation relieves patient discomfort during esophagogastroduodenoscopy." J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 21, 54-58.
Solomon, G. D., 1985. "Slow wave photic stimulation in the treatment of headache--a preliminary report." Headache. 25, 444-446.
Budzynski, T., Jordy, J., Budzynski, H., Tang, H. and Claypoole, K., 1999. "Academic Performance Enhancement with Photic Stimulation and EDR Feedback. Journal of Neurotherapy." 3, 11-21.
Patrick, G. J., 1996. "Improved neuronal regulation in ADHD: An application of fifteen sessions of photic-driven EEG neurotherapy." Journal of Neurotherapy. 1, 27-36.
My wife HATES all her apple products but still won't switch. Similarly, while I love Macbooks, iPhones make me sick and developing for them is like Apple personally giving you (the dev) the middle finger every time there's an update.
I don't know the solution. Wish I did. Wish the internet was as free and wild as it used to be. But you could have a foghorn go off on an iphone every 3 seconds and people still wouldn't switch.