Artificial Intelligence Engineer: A Comprehensive Guide for an AI career
The world is constantly transforming with several technological advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has a huge effect on many machines from the android systems in phones to web indexes and self-driving vehicles to other different electronic devices, the effect of AI is growing exponentially, it is said that the AI engineers are in high demand and also estimated that it will offer more than 2 million job opportunities within the next couple of years.
AI Engineering
AI adopts human-like behavior and mannerisms which are performed by a machine. AI engineering is the process the machine works and functions. During this time an artificial intelligence engineer comes in and they are the ones who look after the coding, developing and programming of machine learning (ML) algorithms that will be followed by the system.
Job role of an AI engineer
Several individuals are actively choosing an AI career as it is considered one of the most lucrative career opportunities. The AI engineer uses several programming algorithms so that they can develop, test and deploy the AI models. The following are the most common day-to-day job responsibilities:
- Better coordination with other team members
- Creating and managing the development process and the overall infrastructure related to AI
- Performing statistical analysis and interpreting the results so that they can guide the organization’s decision-making process
- Automating the key infrastructure for the data science team
- Building infrastructures for data transformation and ingestion
- Developing AI models and explaining the usefulness of the AI models
- Transforming the ML models into APIs that other applications can interact with
Key skills to become an AI engineer
To be a successful artificial intelligence engineer, one requires excelling in their skill set, such as:
☛ Programming Skills
The AI engineer must possess a strong understanding of popular programming languages, such as C++, Java, R, and Python. That’s because they will require using their knowledge of programming languages to build and deploy different AI models.
☛ Statistics, Probability, and Linear Algebra
AI models are developed using algorithms that are heavily based on statistics, algebra, and calculus. Additionally, one also needs to be familiar with probability to interact with the artificial intelligence’s most common ML models such as:
- Hidden Markov
- Gaussian mixture
- Naive Bayes models
- Collaboration skills
Individuals aiming for an Artificial intelligence career often work within a team of other AI developers and IT professionals, so they must have the ability to work efficiently and effectively within a team.
☛ Critical thinking
To come up with innovative AI models and solutions, one must be capable of rapid prototyping. In other terms, they should be able to come up with different kinds of possible solutions to a single problem.
Though an individual can learn and build many of these skills while pursuing their undergraduate degree. However, it is recommended to seek additional experiences like doing an AI certification, which ensures to grow the abilities.
Prerequisites to be an AI engineer
The requirement for individuals who want to excel in their AI career must meet few prerequisites followed by an advanced degree is very high among several different industries. The prerequisites to be a part of this growing industry are:
- One requires earning a bachelor’s degree initially in computer science, mathematics, information technology (IT), statistics, finance, or economics.
- Possessing a master’s degree in computer science, mathematics, cognitive science, data science, or AI will be an added advantage too.
- 5 years of experience (preferably more) in several various programming languages will be useful to get an attractive salary and a high position job.
Top U.S. states for AI jobs
According to Tech Republic “the states with the greatest number of AI jobs tend to have strong tech, healthcare, or government sectors.” The top U.S. states that offer AI jobs and their respective cities are as follows:
Industries where an Artificial Intelligence Engineer is in High-Demand
The demand for skilled artificial intelligence engineers has increased in almost all industries. A few of the top industries are:
- Financial services
- Health care
- Technology and home automation
- Media
- Marketing
- Manufacturing
- National security
- Government and military
- IoT-enabled systems
- Retail
End Notes
The demand for AI is increasing across the world. In the coming years, it is expected to grow more, especially in the developed and developing nations. Mastering the right skills and possessing the necessary prerequisites will help an individual to land a better job with an appealing salary.
