Transfer learning is about the best we can do right now. Using a fully trained ResNet / XCeptionNet and then tacking on your own layers after the end is within reach to hobbyists with just a single GPU on their desktop. There's still a decent amount of learning for the user even with pre-trained models.
+1 this is what I do for my at home (non work) experiments in using word embedding and RNNs for generative text summarization. Using transfer learning makes this affordable as a hobby project.
