How to build a web without a silk gland
Or how to enter a new field and go from knowing almost nothing to getting on a path to make great contributions. A guest post by Dylan Wintle.
Today, we have a guest post written by Dylan Wintle. Dylan is a 21-year-old Computer Systems student at Heriot-Watt University where he primarily studies machine learning and uses his spare time to self-study biology. He is also the president of the fledgling Heriot-Watt Longevity Society and describes himself as a “Synth-powered immortalist”.
I met Dylan on Open Longevity’s Random Coffee call, where he shared with me his story of how he discovered the field of longevity and his commitment to advancing anti-ageing research from the computational side with machine learning.
In this post, Dylan will be sharing how he went from knowing almost nothing about anti-ageing research to getting on a path to make great contributions to this emerging field.
I’m afraid I must begin by disappointing the spider enthusiasts and dedicated fans of the fall webworm amongst us, as in this article I will be writing about the process of getting to know a new field (at least, to the extent I know mine). About building a web as a metaphor both for the people you know in the traditional networking sense, but also for building knowledge, and sense for a field; an aspect I have found under-emphasised in the breadth of articles on the topic.
My own experience has been a largely recent affair. For the past three years, it had gradually dawned on me that the most meaningful contribution I could make to the world - adjusted for my own values - was to dedicate my life to the cause of ending ageing. Though I had an inkling of background knowledge from years of scattered titbits, I only began my efforts to understand the field in earnest a year ago, and only began to speak to the people in it around 6 months before writing this article. Whilst at present my scientific contribution to the field is non-existent, friends privy to my journey have remarked upon the speed with which I have gone from merely a spectator to someone who appears to have embedded themselves within the culture and mindset of ageing biology.
This is enough of a personal triumph for me that I have sought to share the successes and difficulties with others who find themselves where I was a year ago. This article is a distillation of those rambling conversations. Whilst my experience is within the context of the ageing field, I will attempt to generalise my advice to be field agnostic, and hopefully to appeal to different styles of learning.
The greatest boon to my own understanding has by far been the podcast. Podcasts like the Joe Rogan Experience (Joe talking with Aubrey De Grey to be specific) were how I first heard of the field. Podcasts were how I came to know the names, the companies, the labs. Podcasts like Learning with Lowell and Translating Aging are part of how I stay up to date with the goings-on. I consider myself an auditory learner, but really my recommendation extends to any long-form conversation. Seminars, YouTube channels (interview channels especially), written articles like this one! Whilst some of us are lucky enough to be in the hubs of their field, where the lingo and the dogmas are felt as though in the air, most of us are not, myself included. The closest experience you can find is to immerse yourself in the conversations and the thoughts of those associated with it. Names will be dropped, concepts discussed. If you’re lucky, there’ll be an argument or a debate, often rich mines of insight.
Hopefully, these conversations will also clue you into the skills you lack for entering the field proper. A good next step is to search for organisations focused on inducting newcomers into your chosen field. In small fields especially, these organisations can be pillars of the community. My own personal example was Amos Schorr of Norn Group, who was my first contact in the geroscience community, and was kind enough not only to give me some advice on skill development, but to introduce me to some people who proved to be incredibly helpful to my goal-setting process, people who showed me what the entry level looked like, and the distance I had yet to cover. For those interested in ageing specifically, I can recommend the Time Initiative’s page of resources. It is the most comprehensive I have seen and saves me writing a long, likely nigh identical list to accompany this article. If you can identify an equivalent resource in your own industry, please do make use of them. If a long-form conversation is your run-up to the field, these people are your springboard.
With your skills now under development, I have found it important not to cocoon oneself at this stage. Doing so risks losing your place with the developments of your industry. In fact, I have done the exact opposite, and have found it to serve me well. As you work on your own skills, this can be a good time to start employing more traditional networking tactics. LinkedIn, webinars, Q&A events can all be foundational tools for this. The most effective tool I have come across is something called Random Coffee, a service designed for weekly “speed dating” style meetings within a company, but that has been used to great effect by an organisation called Open Longevity as a networking tool. If a service like this is available for your industry, it can be a game changer. The power of consistent new connections, especially in a small organisation is astounding.
When speaking to others, especially those already in the industry you may feel pressure to have what in product management terms could be called a “USP”, unique selling point. Many of those you meet will either run a company or seem to have some unique idea on how to change the industry for the better. You may not have one yet. I don’t. But despite the uncomfortableness of the pressure, I have found it ultimately inconsequential. Simply emphasise what you’re learning, and what you hope to learn, and in my own experience honesty and ambition will do more for you than a unique viewpoint would at this stage.
At this point on the journey, you’re about where I am now. The quiet part. You work on your skills, you meet people, you keep learning. Having set an upward trajectory, all there is to do is stay the course. Of course, you can make improvements to this schedule as opportunity arises. I would love to attend conferences, but there’s an unfortunate anti-synergy between spending time studying, and spending time making money to attend conferences. With or without conferences though, you will develop the sense that you have become part of the community, and it you. Despite running no company, and submitting no papers, I am occasionally recognised or mentioned (no doubt due in part to my unkempt hair like a sheep’s coat). Every so often I am reminded that like a spider, or certain species of moth, I have begun to spin a web.
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