Staying skilled in the AI space is fast becoming a full-time job, but it’s one worth doing and doing well.
Perhaps more than any other career currently, working in the AI sector requires constant education, training and innovation, if you wish to stay abreast of the industry. For those with the skills, the potential is almost limitless, but the commitment to the craft can be somewhat taxing.
With that in mind, if you are looking to enter the AI space, but aren’t sure which of the numerous skills are likely to give you the best start, read on to discover the most useful qualities for an AI career.
Become a programming polyglot
While not a skill that is new to the AI world, programming is both a staple and a constantly changing element that AI career hopefuls should ensure is in their wheelhouse. Less commonly used languages such as Erlang, Lua and Racket could give you an edge in a world where everyone and their neighbour is proficient in standard, albeit crucial, languages such as Python, R, C++ and Java.
Each career within the AI space will require a different form of language programming, so make sure to do your research and upskill in the necessary areas, before undertaking the role.
While not always easy, learning a programming language is an incredibly useful skill that can even be achieved while in full-time employment, via online courses that enable you to work at your own pace, so why not have a look to see if you could benefit from a bit of extra work?
It isn’t hard or soft skills
Far too often the question, ‘which is better, hard or soft skills?’ is posed. The simple answer is, one compliments the other beautifully and you can’t do without either. AI professionals will require a wealth of technical skills to ensure career longevity, it is not a ‘fake it till you make it’ situation as you are either equipped or not.
But soft skills, the ones that help you in everyday life as well as professionally, can be learned on the job and are also vital to overall success. Those who can think on their feet, who adapt well to disruption, who are critical thinkers and who thrive working cross-functionally, will likely find that they are excelling and standing out when compared to their peers who lack certain soft skills.
Data, data and more data
Because data is used to train AI algorithms and lives at the core of the sector, AI would essentially cease to function without it. For that reason, anyone looking to embark upon an AI career should take every opportunity to upskill in the area of data. Both in new and older methods.
Skills within data mining, analytics, processing, wrangling and visualisation are particularly relevant and AI experts should also ensure that they are comfortable around large-scale data-based technologies, for example, Blockchain, Tableau, Hadoop and Spark.
Champion healthy behaviours
In a disappointing turn of events, newly appointed president Trump repealed former president Biden’s AI safety order, which previously ensured safeguards in the development and deployment of AI technologies. Now more than ever, it is crucial that those looking to begin or continue a career in the AI space are aware of the dangers that lie within.
While AI has the potential to be a gamechanger in how we tackle the world’s most pressing problems, we can’t forget that it is also a technology with the potential to do great harm when wielded by the wrong person or people. AI ethics, that is an awareness of the social, legal and ethical implications of the technology, is vital to the formation of a well-rounded and informed approach to AI innovation.
By upholding transparency, bias detection and privacy laws, AI professionals can be an advocate for healthy AI behaviours and an example for others in the industry.
GenAI and good versus evil
Depending on who you talk to GenAI is either going to steal all of our jobs and become an organisational staple, or it is going to be a blessing that relieves much of the day-to-day burden of work, freeing up endless amounts of time to tackle the tasks we actually care about.
Both of these scenarios, though rooted in some fact, are outrageously over-exaggerated and lend themselves to harmful narratives that are preventing us from embracing the positives when it comes to GenAI. Anyone looking to expand upon their AI skills should ensure that they have a background in GenAI and its applications, with time given to how it might impact the world on a larger-scale.
This will enable AI professionals to take a measured approach to GenAI and innovate in a space that is cognisant of the ethical and moral implications. Skills, for example in the areas of deep learning, large language models, prompt engineering and natural language processing will be crucial to further developing AI and GenAI capabilities.
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