# New contributor looking to get started — background in ML/RAG research

**URL:** <https://discourse.pymc.io/t/new-contributor-looking-to-get-started-background-in-ml-rag-research/17889>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [July 23, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/new-contributor-looking-to-get-started-background-in-ml-rag-research/17889 "2026-07-23T18:05:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lakshya\_Pandey](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.pymc.io/lakshya_pandey/32/9703_2.png) [@Lakshya\_Pandey](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/Lakshya_Pandey)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/new-contributor-looking-to-get-started-background-in-ml-rag-research/17889/1 "2026-07-23T18:05:12Z")

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Hi everyone 👋

I’m Lakshya, a B.Tech CSE (AI & ML) student. I currently work as an AI Research Contributor at MIT CSAIL (Mantis AI, under Prof. Manolis Kellis) and also contribute to terrierteam/pyterrier\_rag at the University of Glasgow under Prof. Craig Macdonald.

I’d like to make my first contribution to PyMC. I don’t have a GPU set up, so I’m looking for CPU-friendly, well-scoped issues — docs, tests, or smaller enhancements are all fine to start.

I noticed a lot of the beginner friendly tagged issues already have linked PRs in progress. If any of you could point me to something currently unclaimed and suited to a newer contributor, I’d really appreciate it. Happy to introduce myself further or answer any questions about my background.

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Lakshya\_Pandey](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.pymc.io/lakshya_pandey/32/9703_2.png) [@Lakshya\_Pandey](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/Lakshya_Pandey)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/new-contributor-looking-to-get-started-background-in-ml-rag-research/17889/2 "2026-08-07T20:10:56Z")

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Just bumping this in case it got buried — still looking to make a first contribution and would appreciate a pointer toward something suited to a newer contributor. Thanks for your patience!

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**Author:** ![Ray729](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a587f6/32.png) [@Ray729](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/Ray729)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/new-contributor-looking-to-get-started-background-in-ml-rag-research/17889/3 "2026-08-08T07:06:21Z")

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Hi Lakshya,

I’m Ray, also a new contributor. I ran into the same issue, where all the beginner friendly issues were taken or super old. One way I can suggest to start contributing without finding open issues, is basically going through the codebase looking for TODO and FIXME comments. In another project, I was able to find a FIXME comment which wasn’t marked as an issue and submit a PR for it.

Hope that helps! Also, I’d love to have a chat about your experience with AI research at MIT and University of Glasgow. If you’re open to connecting I can share my LinkedIn or something and we can talk more there.

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**Author:** ![jessegrabowski](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.pymc.io/jessegrabowski/32/5010_2.png) [@jessegrabowski](https://discourse.pymc.io/u/jessegrabowski)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://discourse.pymc.io/t/new-contributor-looking-to-get-started-background-in-ml-rag-research/17889/4 "2026-08-08T18:23:27Z")

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In my opinion the only way to know what issues matter is to use the software for projects and get a feel for the sharp edges. I take a dim view on the notion of a “good first issue”, particularly in the age of LLMs.