Going Quantum…
The past few days were days of accelerated learning. I was binging lectures and completing problems related to Quantum Computing. Throughout the past two weeks I was learning to draft Quantum circuits; my mind was like Hadamard this, Toffoli that…Learning such a novel branch of technology involved being familiar with a bunch of exclusive jargon coupled with some basic but tiring mathematics. But though it sounds complicated and too advanced, Quantum Computing is surprisingly easy to comprehend and you can learn it too!
Standing on the shoulders of giants with ScholarX
How did I get involved in Quantum Computing in the first place? It all started with me applying to ScholarX program as a mentee. ScholarX is a free premium mentoring program offered by Sustainable Education Foundation (https://sefglobal.org). Through this program I got the valuable opportunity to be mentored and guided by Ms. Theshani Nuradha. During my first mentoring session I got excited to know that Ms. Theshani was specializing in Quantum Information Theory. At that time I was interested in studying Quantum Computing but had no particular idea where to get started. As I explained my goals of studying to my mentor she was pleased to guide me with some resources.
Quantum Baby Steps
Out of the resources which my mentor shared with me, I found two programs specially helpful. The first is, Qiskit Quantum Explorers offered by IBM. By registering for this introductory online program you can complete badges and learn Quantum computing in a fun, game-based way. This completely beginner friendly program kicks-off in July and spans until February for participants to complete receiving all the badges. It covers the basic contents of the Qiskit textbook and it’s ideal for a beginner to start your Quantum journey.
The second program is Womanium Quantum which is sort of a summer program which goes through the topics: Quantum computing, Quantum sensing, Quantum Key Distribution and many other topics. This slightly advanced program consists of 7 certificate modules (including a project), and exposes the participants to many keynote speeches by quantum leaders and sessions by leading quantum based companies. But any beginner can follow this program by thoroughly going through the course content and practicing the coding problems.
What I learned so far
I will now summarize the essence of what I learned myself by following these two programs. In my perspective, the basics of Quantum Computing is surprisingly easy to comprehend, even without a Quantum Mechanical background. In terms of math, the fundamental concepts only involves simple linear algebra and probability. It doesn’t involve deep statistical knowledge or advanced calculus as in Deep Learning. The concepts like Quantum Superposition might be confusing to beginners at first because we are not used to physical concepts like superposition, state collapse and interference. But to someone with a rough Quantum Physics background, it becomes deeply interesting to witness actual physical concepts being used in computing algorithms. Even without that extra knowledge, you get used to novel ideas like those.
As a note of conclusion, I encourage all the curious quantum fans out there to try study the fundamentals of Quantum computing on your own, as there are numerous resources on the internet to do so. Since it is such a novel budding technology, there aren’t much undergraduate academic programs in many countries to study this field. But with some effort, you can learn anything! :)
