I did not work in the hottest topics in Machine Learning (and not in computer vision) as I cannot find rooms for innovation. I did publish several papers in 2nd

I did not work in the hottest topics in Machine Learning (and not in computer vision) as I cannot find rooms for innovation. I did publish several papers in 2nd-tier conferences and submit papers to journals. Near the end of my graduation, I started to find jobs in the industry. I have been shocked when I saw some employers will target authors who published in these big conferences even for non-research positions. (It sounds like discrimination.) I always wonder if my research profile will meet their requirements.