About two years ago, I began to become interested in a discipline I knew nothing about at the time, but whose name caught my attention.
In the middle of the AI hype (at least in my LinkedIn feed, it is total saturation), what draws my attention is that a rising sector in full development, with such extraordinary and still immeasurable potential, is being overlooked, especially among software engineers.
I remember buying a couple of popular science books on quantum physics, nothing academic, and it was in one of them that I discovered this expanding field of quantum computing, so I gradually began to follow the thread.
I realized that this is not a technology you read about with a couple of books, a few articles, and a few YouTube videos and then know how to do something with it. Not at all. After reading a lot and doing small proof-of-concept experiments somewhat blindly, I still felt that many things were escaping me and that I needed much deeper, more specific training.
My interest arose from those readings and I decided to buy a specific book on quantum computing, Dancing with Qubits by Robert S. Suton:
In this book, I expected to find something like a new way to program these devices, with specific libraries, and so on, similar to what programmers have always done with classical computers.
Nothing could be further from the truth: what surprised and impacted me was that this is about a new paradigm of devices and a completely different way of solving and implementing algorithms.
To my surprise, half the book is mathematics—yes, I read that correctly—especially linear algebra, complex numbers, and Dirac notation, among other things, and I realized how all those math subjects that beat me up so much during university had receded into the deepest parts of my mind (basically, I remembered almost nothing).
That is why I am currently doing a university master’s program on this topic, lasting roughly a year, at UNIR (Universidad Internacional de la Rioja), something I am fitting around my work and family responsibilities as best I can :-(. The truth is, I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. A small part of the content of some subjects I studied during my degree years ago, and the rest is helping me go deeper into this discipline.
There is a real stack related to quantum computing, both for its study and its application, from basic research to algorithm development, and business interest is growing all the time; I read somewhere that the sector grows by 38% annually, while IBM (which is investing heavily in this) announced that it will begin commercializing quantum computers before 2035, nothing less.
Little by little, I became more and more immersed in the topic, even doing small simulated examples in Python with Qiskit and simulators (one of the most popular libraries, from IBM), without really knowing what I was doing, and I was surprised to realize that this was not about programming computers much more powerful than current ones at all. By the way, much of Qiskit is written in Rust: https://github.com/Qiskit/qiskit.
To understand what quantum computing is really about, you have to study a lot, but briefly, we can say that it consists of harnessing certain quantum properties of atoms to perform certain types of calculations with powers that are unimaginable today (of exponential order) and far superior to those of the most powerful computers today, such as “El Capitan,” located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. With quantum computing, it is possible to tackle problems that are currently unmanageable with classical computing capabilities, such as simulating molecules, factoring large numbers (essential in cryptography), combinatorial optimization of logistics routes, and a huge number of other problems.
Right now my interest in this is a top priority, and it also fits very well with my experience in highly scalable systems and HPC (high performance computing). There is a concept called a quantum-hybrid environment, where classical computing is combined, for example, with data preparation, together with the execution of certain routines on quantum computers.
I think we are looking at a huge professional and even business opportunity (there are, for the moment, really very few companies or startups dedicated to this), for those who are very well positioned in this sector, not only now but also in the coming years. What surprises me is that almost everyone seems focused on AI, dominating the headlines every day, while quantum computing has the potential to impact our economy and society even more.
Since the sector is growing and there is little trained talent, entry-level salaries are incredibly high, as you can see in the image (taken from https://www.quantumjobslist.com/):
What I started as simple academic curiosity is now becoming an opportunity that may shape my professional future, who knows.
That said, I warn you that this discipline is difficult. You have to master the mathematics I mentioned earlier, and since it is a completely different programming paradigm, it is hard to understand the concepts and the type of problems a quantum computer can really solve. There are well-defined quantum algorithms, such as Shor’s algorithm, and even the simplest ones are hard to understand.
Quantum computing is not there to solve more problems, but to solve the right problems better, when their structure justifies it.
However, I think those of us who studied Computer Engineering are very well positioned to move toward this sector, thanks to our training in physics, mathematics, and information theory studied during the degree, and to evolve our profile as a Software Quantum Engineer (it even sounds good).
Without a doubt, we are at a historic point of technological divergence that has rarely occurred in history, with AI, blockchain, robotics, and, of course, quantum computing. We are still unable to even imagine what can be created from the combination of all of these, although Michio Kaku’s book “Supremacía cuántica” already describes (or imagines) the world to come.
What a great time to be alive! And what luck to be able to see how all of this evolves and the impact it will have on our way of life.
If you want a place to start or learn what quantum computing is about, I definitely recommend IBM Quantum Learning, and do not worry if, after a month of browsing around, you still do not understand anything.
The same thing will happen with quantum computing (if it is not already happening) as with sectors like AI and blockchain, whose current exponential boom is the result of builders who worked quietly just five or ten years ago.