I in IRIS - Jacob
How would you describe your role at IRIS?
I’ve been working as an MLOps Engineer at IRIS for just under 2 years now - Wow, that has flown by!
My role is within the Research team so it's all very maths-y and whiteboard-y. Specifically, I work on the infrastructure and cloud systems which are used to train / serve our machine learning models. Internally, we have a sort of hub-and-spoke structure where individual researchers will all have their own research directions, but will all use the same centralised platform to conduct their research. My job is to build / maintain / upgrade this centralised platform so that (a) we operate at the lowest cost possible, and (b) the researchers have more time to work on the big brain stuff.
That being said, this is all my side hustle. I’ve realised after two years of working at IRIS that my main - and far more impressive - role is curating the daily playlist for the main room.
Tell us about your most recent travel experience
Iceland - What a country! The nation runs entirely on renewable energy, generated on the most part through hydroelectric and geothermal. Remarkably, in some of the older homes, the heating systems are designed in such a way that it’s impossible to turn them off!
I feel comfortable sharing that I spent 99% of it in the hot springs. The other 1% was used to travel around Snæfellsnes, a peninsula just north of Reykjavik, with my aunt who has lived over there for the past year. We were lucky enough to catch a gigantic northern lights display which blew my mind. However, the highlight for me was definitely visiting the local shaman, who, living in the most remote corner of the peninsula, gave me an incredibly insightful dive into my past, present and future. I’m not typically a spiritual person, but it’s hard not to feel something when listening to Icelandic - which is regarded as the closest modern language to Old Norse - being spoken around the table. It left me with a very deep appreciation for the culture and history of this place.
Coincidently, IRIS has recently taken a significant stride towards sustainability through partnering with Responsible Compute - a leading Icelandic cloud provider renowned for its commitment to green energy - to leverage supercomputers powered entirely by on-site renewable energy. Witnessing first-hand the scale and engineering expertise behind Iceland’s renewable energy system was truly inspiring. This partnership marks a pivotal step in IRIS’s journey towards sustainability and becoming a fully green business. I am both proud and grateful to be working on such a meaningful transition.
You have a number of tattoos - which is your favourite?
This is an easy one! I recently had a piece commissioned to commemorate a family horse who sadly passed away. My parents live on a farm and their lives’ work seems to be accumulating more and more animals. Truthfully, it’s difficult to sit down anywhere in my house without something jumping on, resting on, or walking over you.
We saved the horse from being sent to a meat factory eight years ago - my mum single-handedly rehabilitated her and got her back training through intense effort over multiple years. She turned out to be incredibly gifted and had the best demeanour of any horse I’ve ever known. It’s great to be reminded of her whenever I see the piece!
Quickfire questions:
App you couldn’t live without?
Find my friends - there is nothing better
Favourite activity?
Is it weird if I say programming
Guilty pleasure?
Lao Gan Ma chilli sauce
Pet Peeve?
Crocodiles / alligators
Something your colleagues don’t know about you?
During work hours, the only thing in my headphones is either the Kung Fu Panda or the Blue Planet 2 soundtrack.