Metropolis Technologies Career Growth & Development

How does your team cultivate a culture of learning, whether that’s through hackathons, lunch and learns, access to online courses or other resources?

The pace of innovation in AI and machine learning isn’t just fast; it’s exponential. To stay at the forefront, we can’t just hire smart people — we have to create a system where the entire team learns together. We have found that a successful learning culture is built on a foundation of consistent, structured knowledge-sharing. On a daily basis, we use dedicated forums to share new research, open-source projects and industry insights. This isn’t just about sharing links; it’s about building collective intelligence.

Another important practice we embrace is our weekly reading group. We cover a vast range of topics in a structured theme, from industry best practices and the latest literature in AI research to foundational papers that relate directly to our work and groundbreaking topics like LLMs. The discussion goes beyond a simple review. We frame everything through the lens of our work, asking, “How does this new technology apply to the challenges we face at Metropolis?” This exercise builds a shared mental model of what’s possible and what’s next.

How does this culture positively impact the work your team produces?

A culture of learning isn’t a vanity metric; it’s a force multiplier for innovation and execution. When the entire team shares a baseline understanding of a technology, you eliminate the psychological barriers and friction that come with adopting it. For example, after our team collectively studied the latest research on large vision language models, we saw an opportunity to rethink our data annotation pipeline. That shared understanding directly enabled us to bypass weeks/months of traditional exploration and research involving proof-of-concept work. Instead, we were able to quickly prototype and deploy a custom VLM solution that significantly streamlined our workflow. That wasn’t just a technical win; it was a testament to our team’s agility, born from that shared knowledge.

Hwang's Tips for Creating a Culture of Learning

“A culture of learning doesn’t happen by accident; we have to be intentional. 

1. “Make it a core part of the team’s DNA. Learning and educational sharing should be celebrated and expected, not tolerated.”
2. “Lead by example. We must be the biggest learner in the room. Be the first to bring a new paper to the reading group or share an interesting finding. Let the team follow your lead.”
3. “Align incentives. Learning takes time and energy, and that has to be a recognized investment. Whether it’s a small prize for the best presentation, a dedicated learning budget or including it in performance reviews, you have to show that you truly value it. Without that alignment, it will be the first thing to go when deadlines loom.”

Ultimately, a learning culture isn’t just a benefit; it is the fundamental foundation of a high-performing engineering organization.”