Spent yesterday afternoon and this morning learning what I could. I'm now superficially familiar with quantum coherence, superposition, and phase relationships.
In other words, you got this. Now I gotta learn linear algebra. brb.
One thing I did forget to mention is that you can play with this stuff in a "familiar to software developers" way in our VS Code playground at <https://vscode.dev/quantum/playground/> . This is a 'code first' approach familiar to software developers leveraging VS Code integration. The playground is pre-populated with a bunch of common quantum algorithms.
You can also install the extension in VS Code directly (<https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=quantum....>), you don't need to run it in the browser, but even in the browser it has a fully working language service, debugger, evaluator, quantum simulator, package management, etc. It's all written in Rust and compiled to either Wasm for the browser and VS Code extension, or native code for the Python package. (I'm thinking about doing a video on how we build it, as I expect it will interesting to this type of crowd. Let me know if so).
Disclaimer: I work in Azure Quantum on the product mentioned. AMA.
I'm unsure I am even asking the right questions. I'd appreciate any direction you can give me!
What do you hope to be doing in 5 years? Architecting quantum solutions? Reselling or consulting on cloud solutions? Building quantum applications?
I think the quantum space will have quite a bit of progress in 5 years, but I think most experts in the space (of which I'm NOT one) think we're still over 5 years out before there's broad adoption on running quantum programs with significant business value. (i.e, it'll still largely be researchers and bleeding edge adopters).
Opinions are my own, etc.
Linear algebra does seem to be a hard wall I've seen many smart software engineers hit. I'd honestly love for someone to study the phenomenon and figure out why this is.
So, I really agree that it's about timing and curriculum. For one, it appears somewhat abstract until you really understand geometrically what's happening.
So, I surmise that most non-mathematicians don't have quite the mathematical maturity to absorb the standard pedagogy when they first approach the subject.
Yes, but most people, like me, never gain even remotely intuitive understanding of it and quickly forget it after passing a few dreadful exams. Just like with most other math.