While professionals across the globe are worried about robots replacing humans, a Gartner study reports that AI is an emerging field that will create 2.8 million jobs by 2020. AI is a broad term, encompassing general artificial intelligence, machine learning, expert systems, data mining, and more. In today’s world, AI capabilities are in high demand across industries—gaming, robotics, face recognition software, weaponry, speech recognition, vision recognition, expert systems, and search engines.
If you’re evaluating career options in this emerging field, look at these top five jobs in artificial intelligence and the skills that you’ll need to transition into these roles.
In order to pursue AI as a career, there are a varied number of skills that you need to master, all of which requires a great deal of training. As there is a wide variety of career options available in AI, knowing which skills are the most sought after can help you land on the job you want. For example, research scientists hypothesize new and different ways for machines to think (requires high-level research). Machine learning engineers create algorithms based on those hypotheses to help machines analyze and make decisions (requires in-depth knowledge of different programming languages). However, the most common factor in all these fields is that they all require a great deal of experience in math and science-related topics.
Here are the top artificial intelligence skills that you need to have:
- Programming languages (Python, R, Java are the most necessary)
- Linear algebra and statistics
- Signal processing techniques
- Neural network architectures
1. Machine Learning Engineer
One of the most sought-after jobs in AI, machine learning engineers must possess strong software skills, be able to apply predictive models, and utilize natural language processing while working with massive data sets. Also, machine learning engineers are expected to know software development methodology, agile practices, and the complete range of modern software development tools right from IDEs like Eclipse and IntelliJ to the components of a continuous deployment pipeline.
Average Salary: $121,106 (Glassdoor)
Preferred Qualifications: Hiring companies prefer candidates holding a master's or doctoral degree in computer science or mathematics with working knowledge of modern programming languages like Python, Java, and Scala. These organizations usually prefer professionals with strong computer programming skills, expert mathematical skills, knowledge of cloud applications and computer languages, excellent communication, and analytical skills, and certifications like machine learning.