1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,400 Hi, and welcome to the Neil Ashton Podcast. 2 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:05,920 In each episode, we explained some of the fascinating ways 3 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:09,080 that science and engineering are changing the world around us. 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,760 We talked to leading engineers from elite level sports like 5 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,880 cycling in Formula One to some of the world's top academics to 6 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,960 understand how fluid dynamics, machine learning, supercomputing 7 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:23,000 are bringing in a new era discovery. 8 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:27,080 We also hear some of their life stories, their career advice, 9 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,080 the lessons they've learned on the way that I hope will be 10 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,840 helpful to you too. So sit back and enjoy this 11 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:40,840 episode. Hi, and welcome back to the Neil 12 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,440 Ashton Podcast. I'm mainly here to say sorry 13 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,400 that I haven't put out an episode in quite some time. 14 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,840 I've been a bit busy, to be completely honest, and that's 15 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:57,120 because I actually changed jobs. I left Amazon Web Services, AWS 16 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:01,360 after being there nearly five years and I joined NVIDIA about 17 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,680 six weeks ago. And yeah, I've been, I've been 18 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:08,040 pretty busy. It's been a super exciting 19 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,680 though past sort of six weeks. Probably anybody who changes 20 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,320 jobs will say it's, you know, stressful time, but I actually 21 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:23,040 found it a a really good time. Maybe I'll just briefly say what 22 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,240 I'm what I'm doing, just, you know, I guess if people are 23 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,560 interested. So I'm I've joined the video as 24 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,200 a distinguished CAE. So computer, computer aided 25 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:37,400 engineering architect, which enjoyed on the sort of product 26 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:39,480 engineering side of of the business. 27 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:44,880 So the side of the company that builds the builds, designs the, 28 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:49,880 the, the, the GP US and CPUs and also looks after the, the sort 29 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:52,600 of software side of things to the CAE platform. 30 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,000 And so that's the team that I'm joining, but I'll have a 31 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:01,240 reasonably broad remit of trying to help, you know, the product 32 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:07,240 teams, the marketing, the sales and BI guess the subject matter 33 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:12,160 expert or domain specialist for, for, for CAE, which is super 34 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,840 exciting because, you know, Nvidia's doing a lot in many 35 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,080 different areas. And it's a chance for me 36 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,560 hopefully to contribute to them. You know, the things that I've 37 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:27,080 learnt over my career and some of the projects that I'm engaged 38 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:31,560 with and, and, you know, help them to deliver things, but also 39 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:33,480 the other way around. It's really great for me to 40 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,960 expand my knowledge, particularly obviously as GPUs 41 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:41,760 are becoming more and more frequently used and, and also on 42 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,800 the software stack. So I kind of like to challenge 43 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:46,880 myself. And certainly getting more into 44 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:52,600 the the computer science side of things, I guess is particularly 45 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,000 appealing to me. But also it's no secret that 46 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,360 I've been doing a lot of work in the AI side. 47 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:03,120 And you know, for obvious reasons, the videos are pretty 48 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,240 good at the AI stuff and is used by many people for the AI side 49 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:08,640 of things. So it's been great to, yeah, to 50 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:13,240 expand myself there. I was lucky enough to go out to 51 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,480 the headquarters in Santa Clara a couple of weeks ago. 52 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:21,920 So it's kind of funny actually, to go back to the Bay Area. 53 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:26,200 The Bay Area, by the way, being the place, the Bay to the South 54 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,520 of San Francisco. I guess all of it's technically 55 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,360 the Bay Area. But when, whenever I say the Bay 56 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,800 Area, it's Silicon Valley, although I sort of feel a bit 57 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:38,040 weird saying Silicon Valley sounds a bit odd to say it, but 58 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:39,920 they're based there. And it's great to go back 59 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:46,680 actually, because, you know, I was there 10 years ago, living 60 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:48,800 there for a short time when I was at NASA Ames. 61 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,920 And I, I remember that was for a British person going out to 62 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:54,840 California and going to Silicon Valley. 63 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,920 I saw all these, you know, tech companies and I often did 64 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,360 wonder, you know, would I ever join a company like that? 65 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,680 At that time, it didn't see like my path would ever lead me 66 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,600 there. So it's funny to be back 10 67 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,160 years and now be working for one of the big companies in that 68 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:17,480 area and be going there, I guess more towards the middle of my 69 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,200 career. It was kind of a funny feeling 70 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:22,800 going, you know, driving around that area and walking around. 71 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,760 And of course, it's nice to get a bit of sun in January because 72 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:32,120 it's been very gloomy in the UK. So I went over there and yeah, 73 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,640 everyone's been great. It's a fantastic company, lots 74 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,000 of super talented people and a really nice culture. 75 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,760 This is not a sales for them. This is just my honest opinion. 76 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,280 It's, it's genuinely, it's been great. 77 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:48,080 Met loads of nice people, you know, engaged in customer 78 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,880 meetings and things like that. So that's why I've been a bit 79 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,360 preoccupied. And there's quite a big event 80 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:57,560 coming up. It's called GTC. 81 00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,600 So it's Nvidia's main conference. 82 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:04,640 I guess a bit like AWS has Reinvent and Microsoft has RE 83 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:07,320 ignition or something. I can't remember what it's 84 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:08,960 called. Every company, you know, Siemens 85 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:11,400 has Siemens realise live ANSYS has something else. 86 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:13,880 So this is the NVIDIA thing and it's in March. 87 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:15,960 And so it's always a bit crazy leading up to it. 88 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:19,000 I'm actually going to be going out there again for that. 89 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,880 So if anybody listens to this, watches this and it's going to 90 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:25,040 be at GTC, then please come and say hello. 91 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:27,600 It'd be great to, to, to speak to people. 92 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:30,040 But yeah, that's why I've been a bit busy. 93 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:34,440 But the good news is I will be continuing the podcast and I 94 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,760 have already some really interesting guests lined up to 95 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:42,600 finish off this season. And and I'm going to take a 96 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:47,720 little bit of a break then to sort of get re energised and get 97 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:52,160 some stuff recorded and prepared for the third season and to make 98 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,880 sure that I don't have this embarrassing gap of time when I 99 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,640 basically was just a bit manic to go and record and and 100 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:01,960 interview people. So I just, yeah, had to take a 101 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:03,720 bit of a break. But I thought I should come on 102 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,520 here and at least tell you that I'm sorry for not putting in a 103 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:09,280 new episodes. And at least, you know that I'm, 104 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:11,880 you know, still around and still working. 105 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,320 I'm still, you know, going to be as engaged with all the 106 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:20,000 community projects that I've been really, you know, proud of 107 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,600 doing, like the auto CFDS, like the high lift workshops, like 108 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,360 some of the AI data set stuff. These are all activities that I 109 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:32,200 will be continuing at NVIDIA and have even more of a remit to, 110 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:34,800 you know, go out there and hopefully do some really good 111 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,080 things for the community. But also very keen to to hear 112 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,920 what people think at the next topics and engage and try and 113 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,440 look what's around the corner. That always interests me. 114 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,880 That's obviously why I've done so many episodes array around 115 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:52,800 the AI side and there'll be some more stuff around the quantum 116 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,200 side of things as well that I'll be talking to some guests on 117 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,080 and, and really the rest is down to you. 118 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:03,240 I'd love to actually hear what episodes and what topics and 119 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:05,680 what sort of things you would like to hear. 120 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:09,760 Yeah, Let me know either on LinkedIn or YouTube or whatever 121 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,160 mechanism you want. Yeah. 122 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,680 Tell me what sort of stuff interests you, what you'd liked, 123 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,640 what you didn't like, and I'll try to make these episodes as 124 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:22,600 interesting as possible. But for now, yeah, Please be 125 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:25,160 patient and and thank you. If you are listening to this and 126 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,880 you haven't completely stopped listening to these podcasts, 127 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,880 there is quite a few episodes maybe to go back and listen to. 128 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,080 I mean that's probably anybody who's watched or listened to 129 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:37,640 this will know most of them are in the one hour to two hour 130 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,160 mark. So if you whilst maybe if you're 131 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,920 waiting for new episodes to come, I'd encourage you to go in 132 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,280 the back catalogue and maybe try and listen more of those 133 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:49,480 episodes if you didn't get listened to the whole thing 134 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,680 because yeah, I left them long forms so you could really get 135 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:55,640 the full story. But I appreciate that there are 136 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:57,800 sometimes a bit difficult to listen to all in one go. 137 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:00,240 So maybe this is a good opportunity to do it. 138 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,720 And like I said this now, there will be some more episodes 139 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,000 coming soon. But in the meantime, yeah, 140 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,440 thanks for thanks for listening to this and following this 141 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:13,440 podcast. I really do appreciate the the 142 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:15,680 fact that you're doing it and any, you know, the nice feedback 143 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,920 I've had from people. But yeah, sorry for not being so 144 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:21,840 good at putting them out, but there will be more in the 145 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:23,920 future. So with that, hope you had a 146 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,040 good start to the year. And yeah, speak to you all soon.