Title: I&#x27;m a software developer in my early twenties. I&#x27;ve been programming professionally since I was 16, and I work in a startup now, mostly doing front-end engineering.<p>I tried going to university but I chose the wrong one and later dropped out (I don&#x27;t regret it).<p>I love my job, but sometimes there&#x27;s a nagging feeling that I&#x27;m missing out when I read about neural networks, machine learning or computational biology. I&#x27;ve been taking ML on Coursera and though I don&#x27;t have deep love for maths, I found the subject both fascinating and approachable.<p>Still, machine learning isn&#x27;t what I want to be doing. I&#x27;m a thousand times more fascinated by articles about reverse-engineering and hacking the human brain itself. (For example, this one: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;homes.cs.washington.edu&#x2F;~rao&#x2F;brain2brain&#x2F;index.html). I&#x27;m also very interested in OpenWorm project since it&#x27;s not your typical movie-recommendation kind of neural network.<p>I have no idea how to get into that area (fiddling with the brain). Do I absolutely need to get a degree in this area to participate in this kind of research? Do they need software development expertise? Is it difficult to adjust my skillset from being just a software developer? How does division of labor usually work in groups like these? I imagine there are always some biology- and some software-oriented folks in one group. What could be my first step in that direction?<p>If you have taken this path, please share your experience.
Upvote: