Yes this. Be a subject matter expert who knows how to take the technology and apply to some problem in a novel way. Don't be the method maker because you will always be behind. How do I know you will always be behind? If you weren't behind then you wouldn't ask questions like OP.
MS and PhD students start out behind and they’ll spend most of their time during the next 2-5 years on irrelevant things (e.g. 95%+ of their graduate coursework will be behind the state of the art; most PhDs will focus on a niche project that fails to have major impact or relevance by the time they graduate).
It sounds like OP just wants to learn out of general interest, which is fine. But others shouldn’t be discouraged. A sufficiently-dedicated person with talent and a strong classic ML foundation can catch up reasonably fast, to the point of getting their foot in the door professionally.
Exactly this. Having a MS/PHD does not guarantee that you are on the forefront of a field. When I started my MS program, I was behind, and when I finished, I was behind.
