From Sustainable Agriculture to Programming - with Noonies Nominee Akis Loumpourdis

Hello there! I’m Akis.

First of all, a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating me for a 2021 Hackernoon Contributor of the Year Noonies award! I’ve been nominated in the following categories:

1. Data Visualization: Award Page
2. Machine Learning: Award Page
3. NLP: Award Page
4. Tensorflow: Award Page
5. UX: Award Page
6. Deep Learning: Award Page

This is a small interview-type post, to get to know me a little bit better. I will not ask you to vote for me. What I will encourage you to do is to browse the Noonies 2021 page and spend some time reading some of the stories posted in any category that you might find interesting. You won’t regret it. There are so many great thinkers in here. People that are smarter than me, people that write much better than me. I am very impressed by the quality of content on Hackernoon.

1. Tell us more about the things you create / write / manage / build!

At the moment, I like experimenting with IoT and machine learning. Not on a large scale, just smart home devices, like light bulbs, humidity and temperature sensors, etc. I know that for some of these applications it is like re-inventing the wheel, but I do enjoy the process, nevertheless.

2. How did you end up on your current career path? Do you like it?

I actually got into programming quite late, in my early thirties. Before that, I studied and got a Master’s degree in Sustainable Agriculture. So I spent some years practicing what I learned, mainly doing lab work; petri dishes, fungi culture, measuring pesticide residues were some of the things that I did on a daily basis. I remember that the turning point for me was my curiosity for precision agriculture. This was when I slowly started becoming a techie and I never looked back.

3. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why?

A.I. and Machine Learning. I am excited to see the rapid advancements in this field. I am a firm believer that it can be a great aid in tackling many problems: False news spread, climate change, energy consumption, food quality, better cities to name a few. I carefully selected the word “aid” here. A.I. is just another tool. It is not a panacea. Not to mention the ethical standards that need to be followed. But this can be a whole book on its own and cannot be discussed in a few sentences.

4. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?

I would invest in green projects in my home country, Greece. First of all, because I fully support the cause behind them. Second, there is universal support, the governments seem to understand that they need to cooperate and prioritize green development. They provide incentives and help for such efforts.

5. What are you currently learning?

Cauliflower recipes. Oh, wait, are you expecting to hear about some fancy technology or programming language?… Hmmm, still cauliflower recipes, sorry.

6. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own

Nikos Kazantzakis

7. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I love going to the gym as well as playing football. I also like trying new recipes.

About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards

The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.

The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: bybit, Dottech Domains, and Avast. Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.