Today we’d like to introduce you to Jefferson Maia.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I currently work as a computational linguist in tech, but I pursued an academic career for about 10 years before I ventured out into industry positions. It all started back in Brazil when I was still an undergraduate following my passion for languages and getting a degree in Portuguese. I quickly fell in love with language science, especially with psycholinguistics, which is the experimental study of how language is processed in the mind. I started doing psycholinguistic research very early on during my undergraduate studies, when I also had the chance to collaborate with a professor from University of South Carolina (UofSC). Quite a few research experiments, a Study Abroad, and a Master’s degree later, I came to Columbia, SC, to earn a Ph.D. in Linguistics from UofSC. Over the course of my graduate studies, I took a keen interest in more applied uses of linguistics in the workplace, and that’s when I started exploring options to bring language science to work outside of academia. This career goal has recently led me to contract positions at some of the top companies in the tech industry.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’m the only child of a single mother who endured great hardship to raise me in a then “developing” country. Thanks to the love of learning she instilled in me and the scholarships I was awarded, I managed to become a first-generation college graduate who got accepted with full tuition abatement to a graduate program in the US. Now when it comes to getting a Ph.D., graduate students tend to travel a road paved with hard work, sweat, tears, debt, grit, and… counseling sessions! In fact, doctorate students have been shown to be at a much higher risk of experiencing mental health issues than the general population, which goes to show that, for many, an advanced degree does come at a great cost. Those who manage to graduate and choose to pursue post-ac careers like me still have to redefine core aspects of their professional identities. This process of figuring out how to translate all the academic knowledge I gained during my graduate studies into a marketable portfolio that is appealing to business leaders has undoubtedly been challenging. Another non-negligible obstacle for me has been the US immigration policy. Although I speak from a relatively privileged position now, I can say without exaggeration that the whole immigration process and its limbos have taken their toll on my career trajectory so far.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a linguist in tech, I specialize in language creation, annotation, and transcription for machine learning projects developed by leading tech companies in the world. At a basic level, my work involves generating and/or analyzing significant amounts of language data in Brazilian Portuguese or English. The goal? To improve the user experience of digital assistants that rely on systems such as automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) to interpret the language input they’re given and to produce some sort of linguistic output in response. This work helps to define a flawless conversational design experience, and I am proud of being a part of very talented, interdisciplinary teams working to leave a tangible impact on how millions of users around the world interact with language-mediated forms of technology every day. My background in cognitive psychology, experience with quantitative research methods, and active interest in user experience surely help to inform how I approach my day-to-day responsibilities and long-term projects.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Artificial intelligence, of which computational linguistics can be considered a sub-field, has been reshaping businesses across industries in today’s economic landscape – from healthcare all the way to arts, entertainment, and recreation. While we might still be a bit far from sentient computers like those envisioned in the Star Trek fictional universe, we have come a long way towards fulfilling the ideal of developing high-quality AI that meets real-world needs with computer-aided solutions. As for improving how we model its linguistic capabilities, the future is certainly bright as we continue to develop data-centric approaches to applied machine learning.
Contact Info:
- Email: maiacjefferson@gmail.com
- Website: https://maiacjefferson.github.io/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seehowicit
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maiacjefferson/
- Other: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jefferson-Maia
