2023. 1. 13 | 4mins

Star View, which tells the upstage stories of stars, and the fourth main character is Gongpil, Sophie, Chris, and Dave from the Contents & Education team, who are expanding the ecosystem through various AI training!

Since January 2021, the Contents & Education team has been nurturing various practical talents while conducting 'Boost Camp' AI tech training with the NAVER Connect Foundation, and is rapidly emerging as the epicenter of AI by producing more than 1,000 training graduates. In addition, it is injecting warmth into the AI ecosystem in various ways by conducting practical customized training for companies and AI development contests.

I look forward to the popularization of AI education that stars will draw in the future. Meet the four-color charms of the Contents & Education team, Gongpil, Sophie, Chris, and Dave, and check out the hidden potential of upstage AI education!

please introduce yourself.

pencil

This is an engineer responsible for managing and operating educational projects . I thought the culture of Upstage was attractive, and I joined because I wanted to try a new type of education. I am currently leading the boost camp with good colleagues.

Kris

Hello, this is Chris in charge of AI content production and management. I joined Upstage in early 2021. The vision and culture of the company touched me, and I took on a new challenge after hearing that famous people in the AI industry had started a business. In my case, I participate in all projects with content such as AI competitions as well as Boost Camp AI Tech .

Sophie

Hello, this is Sophie, who is in charge of external education projects such as corporate training and AI competitions in the Contents & Education team. By expanding the technology education ecosystem, we wanted to create a culture that supports technology, people, and AI transformation. Upstage really believes that AI technology is making life more valuable for anyone in the world.

dave

This is Dave, who is in charge of AI Tech training operations . I joined because I was strongly attracted by the wonderful upstage vision of 'Making AI Beneficial'. Amidst the infinite opportunities created by the advancement of AI technology, it is my dream to create AI talent training that will spread AI technology to the world more beneficially.

Please also introduce the Contents & Education team.

pencil

The Contents & Education team produces and operates AI educational contents and focuses on education to expand the AI ecosystem that Upstage draws. Currently, we are running AI Boost Camp with the Naver Connect Foundation, and we collaborate with external companies to create external education and contest contents . In addition, we are with anyone who needs educational contents anytime, anywhere.

Arguably, the best AI training
'BoostCamp', Designing a Learning Experience for Sustainable Growth

CAN YOU ALSO TELL US ABOUT THE “AI BOOST CAMP” YOUR TEAM IS RUNNING?

pencil

AI Boost Camp is the best artificial intelligence education project in Korea created together with the NAVER Connect Foundation. It is an education where you can experience the entire process of AI service production, from basic Python and math to serving. Although there are several characteristics of the composition, it is possible to perform actual artificial intelligence tasks using data similar to the field through the competition and competition platform developed by Upstage, and that the best practitioners and faculty at home and abroad conduct lectures. .

In short, it is the best artificial intelligence education program in Korea where you can properly learn the practical experience and know-how needed to grow as an AI engineer. As education is already over the middle, news of employment and advancement, as well as news of winning AI competitions, are coming in. In addition, many companies and education companies are also receiving training proposals or inquiries for collaboration, so it is rewarding to operate.

What do you consider most important in the operation of Boost Camp, which helps grow talented people?

dave

We pay attention to all aspects of selecting, educating, and developing talented people. First of all, it is not simply selecting excellent and capable talents, but pursuing sustainable growth within the ever-evolving technology ecosystem, creating active collaboration and positive synergy within the community, and defining and solving problems from your own perspective. We are trying to find and select people who can be immersed in it. So, during the selection process, we look not only at our current capabilities but also at how much potential we have for growth .

In addition, in order to help grow into outstanding talent through education, we want to design a learning experience that goes beyond providing quality educational content designed and produced by the best instructors in the industry and academia. We are developing various useful contents so that we can have not only hard skills in terms of knowledge but also soft skills necessary as a sustainable AI engineer. Above all, we are designing learning experiences that carefully consider psychological and emotional aspects of the educational journey. It is to organically connect various experience elements such as assignments, practice, missions, community events, various special lectures, and peer sessions to lead to positive learning experiences and growth. As an analogy, we put a lot of effort into designing and operating such a learning experience, where we cook and serve food that looks good, tastes, and is nutritious, rather than just throwing out healthy and delicious ingredients.

It is impressive to say that you pay attention to 'potential for growth' and even take care of 'psychological/emotional learning experiences'. I understand why the satisfaction level of campers who have completed the boost camp is so high. So, for campers
I wonder how you build/manage the massive 'education data'.

dave

At BoostCamp, approximately 240 students respond to at least 15 to 20 questions each week. Then, at least 3600 pieces of data are accumulated every week, and if you add up the data collected not only from students, but also from instructors, mentors, and teaching assistants, the data to be managed and analyzed is great. It is truly 'big data' .

It allows data coming from various respondents in multiple channels to be accumulated in a designated place so that it is not scattered all over the place. And it is a kind of framework for the workspace where data is gathered. The framework for the analysis is designed in advance. As soon as data is accumulated, quantitative values are automatically analyzed within the frame, and qualitative data to be taken care of can be seen. A well-designed framework can reduce the resources spent on data management and analysis. Above all, you can look at the information provided in the framework, in short, the time-series trend, the relationship between indicators, or the subjective Happy Point and Pain Point of the respondent. If you look at the data organized according to the main criteria, you can look more comfortably, but without missing the key information. Key insights or major issues discovered in this process are shared with team members, and a repository is created to accumulate only those contents, which is useful for retrospectives and history tracking.

Education data is data that reflects the context and experience of each participant in education, and I believe that it can be a very valuable asset for those who plan and operate education and want to provide valuable learning experiences to participants. With that data, we can examine the past, recognize the present more objectively, and plan for a better future, so data management is approached with utmost care and care one by one. Even now, we are continuing to think about how to manage data more efficiently and derive analysis results effectively. I am constantly studying and experimenting with various tools and methodologies.

Are there any memorable episodes while producing and operating boost camp jockeys several times?

pencil

As many people gather, various unpredictable things often happen. So rather than a particularly memorable episode , our stars who help each time are always memorable. Last summer, as we wrapped up the 3rd season of Bucam, we thanked those who helped us. Excluding our team, it has been 34 minutes. Considering that the number of warriors is about 100, I think it will be more relevant. It is said that it takes a whole village to raise a child, and we were able to come this far thanks to the stars who helped us a lot to run a Bucam. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you!

I'm also curious about the future plans or blueprints of Boost Camp.

pencil

Boost Camp is a content created in a wasteland where there was nothing. There were many shortcomings, but thanks to the concerns and efforts of many people, we are now receiving positive reviews in many ways. It's great enough content, but we're constantly working to make it even better. We are creating and updating new content almost every quarter, and through these efforts, Boost Camp is now a very famous education in the field of artificial intelligence. I am grateful, but I hope that this content will not stop here and will become more famous and become a content that can further increase the name 'Upstage'.

Upstage corporate training loved by practical customized training

Please also introduce the training programs that target companies.

Sophie

I think corporate training is a process of generously sharing the AI know-how of upstage stars. It also seems to be a point where you can feel the Upstage way that values 'Sharing'! Many companies and people are wondering which business problems AI technologies can solve. This is because, before actually experiencing it, it is difficult to introduce a new technology and requires professional help to know the exact function. Upstage's corporate training supports real-world executives and employees to solve problems more effectively with AI.

In particular, you must have many difficulties when applying the service to your business end-to-end. Its strength lies in providing practical training that can solve AI tasks and business problems that are essential in practice based on field experience and know-how. It is commonly known as PBL (Problem-Based Learning) education. Although it is difficult to express it only with the word PBL, based on the theory learned, we will create the highest performance solution based on real AI problems and data in an environment similar to real combat.

In particular, when conducting corporate training with company A, AI incumbents and researchers also left feedback that they applied the contents and solutions they learned while participating in the training to actual work. It is judged that the fact that he led the improvement of expertise required for commercialization of AI models while experiencing the entire process, including development and distribution of actual AI services, led to high satisfaction. It seems that they are confident in high-quality practical lectures, practical contents, and platforms that cannot be experienced as easily.

Companies must be thinking a lot about optimizing their AI business. In order to increase the effect of introducing AI, I think you will realize the need for an active and continuous AI training program targeting core talent in the company. In fact, it has been reported that when comparing high- and low-performing companies in adopting AI, companies that have introduced training show more than 3.5 times more AI performance than companies that do not. Upstage's Contents & Education team is ready to solve these concerns of companies together!

How interested are you in corporate education?
I'm also curious about the reviews of companies that actually participated in the training.

Sophie

They are delivering training reviews saying they want to share long-term training, not one-off. I wonder if the fact that it is an education that so well knows and sympathizes with the points that incumbent practitioners need to think about when upgrading AI services is a decisive opportunity. Directly experiencing the latest AI technology trends and in-depth practice contents for each domain that have not been applied in the field has been a great help in resolving the difficulties faced by practitioners, and we are naturally receiving love calls from companies wishing for long-term training. (Typical courses include data creation, model optimization, product serving, etc.)

Is there a point where we are working to create better corporate education?

Sophie

From the perspective of education, I think it is most important to ask 'how to support corporate managers and participants (developers)' , and also think about what is 'most necessary' .

1. In order to solve the customer's concerns together and at the same time to further expand the AI ecosystem, we consider and propose guides and training roadmaps/long-term curricula that can effectively deliver training contents so that even beginners can easily take on challenges.

2. Even experienced incumbents and developers are thinking about what devices will motivate them to creatively explore, experiment, and continue new modeling experiments in solving AI problems.

3. Further up the need to continue developing the technology! In order to do this, I think it is important to create such a forum for discussion so that you can understand and think about how AI technology is helpful in real work .

THAT'S WHY I WANT TO OBSERVE THE AI ECOSYSTEM, DEVELOPERS, AND COMPANIES MORE ELABORATELY, SO UPSTAGE SEEMS TO BE THE BEST ENVIRONMENT.

I'd like to hear about the things I felt while in charge of corporate training and the episodes that were rewarding.

dave

The atmosphere of education for corporate executives and employees is distinctly different from that of Boost Camp. In particular, there is a point where we can contrast in terms of time afforded or motivated to devote to education. I am sure that our training helps to strengthen practical skills, but it seems that it was difficult to fully convey everything about the training to the corporate training participants who take training concurrently with work. However, there was something we were sure of, so it seems that we tried to motivate the corporate training students who had quite different motivations through continuous communication, observation, and various devices .

On the other hand, there was a moment that was personally rewarding. At the time of corporate training, the training status and performance were summarized in slides every other week and at the end of each training session, and delivered to the client. What I was proud of was that the person in charge of the customer company and even the executive said that they were very satisfied and praised me. Our Upstage collected and carefully produced the contents of continuous observation and collection, such as how the education is currently being operated, how the students are learning, and what kind of learning and growth has occurred. It seemed to approach the customer company with a good impression. The moment Upstage and companies meet through 'education', they can provide satisfaction with excellent curriculum and contents, but meticulous management with a genuine interest in students can also make the connection stronger and more positive. It seems that there was an epiphany.

A contest to challenge various field tasks!
Check the joy and potential of the first harvest through the “AI Ground” competition

CHRIS IS IN CHARGE OF VARIOUS EXTERNAL COMPETITIONS. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF AI COMPETITIONS?

Kris

The AI competition not only expands the AI ecosystem, but is also very effective in actually learning AI. We also confirmed these learning effects and satisfaction through the Boost Camp AI Tech program and the U+ contest. It is a good opportunity for contest participants to model based on actual business data, and it can satisfy the needs of companies for recruiting and developing algorithms .

And what I would like to say again is that many people helped in hosting the AI competition. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the AI Stages platform development team and the Challenges team for helping me from hosting to reviewing the competition.

PLEASE ALSO INTRODUCE THE AI COMPETITION THAT WAS HELD LAST YEAR.

Kris

There are many AI competitions in charge of production and operation by the Contents & Education team. Many of them are being operated in the BoostCamp AI Tech training program. A total of more than 10 competitions are prepared for student learning in three tracks: computer vision, natural language processing, and recommendation system .

Aside from this, a new contest this year was the “AI Ground” contest held with LG U+ . The actual service data set of the contents of 'Children's Country', U+'s media service for infants and children, was utilized, and based on this, an opportunity to develop an AI model was provided to the contest participants. Anyone interested in AI machine learning/deep learning could participate. In addition to receiving the prize money, there was even an opportunity for U+ recruitment privileges. As a result , 860 people participated in the competition, and I am personally proud of it.

Many people participated in the AI Ground contest and were able to finish it with great success!
I would also like to ask you to say something to Sophie, who was in charge with you.

Sophie

Yeah! AI Ground was LG U+'s first AI competition and the only recommendation system AI competition in Korea this year . The social effect was great in terms of AI ecosystem expansion, such as high-performance recommendation solutions as well as opportunities to discover AI talent.

Since there are not enough competitions in Korea to experience company-recommended tasks, a whopping 860 participants participated despite the high level of difficulty of the AI Ground. The theme of AI model development for actual service user data and content recommendation was successfully carried out with interest. In fact, “I’ve done research on recommendation models once, but this is the first time I’ve challenged a contest with actual data and rich features,” and “It was a fun contest because I was able to explore many solutions.”

The new solution provided by the participants provided an opportunity for the customer to develop an AI model that can recommend better content one step further, and the participants gradually improved the model and AI newcomers based on problems and data that were not easily accessible in the field. I was able to gain developer job experience.

At this point, I wonder if there is a reason why the AI Ground competition was inevitable. What was the background to finishing the first contest so well?

Sophie

In Upstage, experts including Kaggle grandmasters who have mastered the world AI competition are gathered. The AI competition was designed with the actual Challenges team, and the AI Stages team platform developers demonstrated their expertise by hosting and monitoring the competition. We were able to complete design and operation, from AI task/data set configuration to be considered when holding a contest, to baseline code, evaluation method, and model verification process. In particular, I believe that the key points to the success of the competition were that the competition was designed in consideration of participants' positions as well as evaluation methods (metrics) used in the field, minimizing issues that could arise from field data and problems in advance. In addition, the fact that we helped participants strengthen their AI modeling capabilities, develop solutions based on field AI tasks and data, and increase their business understanding of customers also contributed to their high level of satisfaction.

Work as 'One team' to share gratitude and strive for growth through 'One Step More'

What do you consider most important among the Upstage Way items in your work ?

dave

All Upstage Ways are valuable, but I think “Ethics” is important these days. Fulfilling your ethical responsibilities may seem like a natural attitude. I thought that there might be something I could miss in such obviousness. Personally, I manage all data from education participants, general personal information as well as sensitive information, and in the screening operation for selection, I manage test questions, answers, and test taker information, so these days I accept Ethics more sensitively. there is.

Sophie

Through collaboration that utilizes the strengths of each team and star, it seems that we are thinking about the best education based on 'how can we go further up! The People & Culture team, which reviews legal issues and smooth training contracts with clients, and the BX team, which considers UI and usability so that users can understand and use it more easily, and a more fundamental approach to solving corporate problems. From data to competition design, AI Stages, Challenges team, and marketing and communication teams that expand the influence of content! It's nice to be able to work together as one team.

Kris

Upstage Way feels challenging in every way. Among them, one team and collaboration are considered the most important. As it is a company that works remotely, sometimes communication may not be easy. It is not easy for different teams to collaborate for a common goal, so I seem to pay the most attention to smooth communication for collaboration, which is the basis of one team.

pencil

I also think One Team is the most important thing. The mindset that everyone is moving toward the same goal in itself energizes work. In particular, I have a lot of things to communicate with other people to distribute work to others or deal with issues when they arise. Whenever that happens, the team members step forward with a 'One Team' mindset, so I'm really grateful.

Lastly, if you have your own know-how to practice the Upstage Way, please tell us.

dave

It seems like you have to see GrowUpstage peer feedback in the first half of the year at least once every two weeks. I keep reminding myself to do better on what I am good at, and not to miss the parts that need improvement.

Sophie

Being with good colleagues , and learning from them one by one!

Kris

I am constantly reading books because I want to do my job better and become a colleague with whom I want to work.

pencil

Always look at how and what your colleagues are doing. I am trying to look back on myself by taking it as a point of calculation.

Through interviews with Contents & Education stars, I look forward to the AI education ecosystem that Upstage will lead in the future. Check out the live star view on the Upstage YouTube channel below!

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