How to become an AI professional

The main reason that anyone would want to learn how to leverage AI would be to find work in the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelligence or to better integrate AI into their present job responsibilities. The AI boom is poised to reshape almost every industry, so there are a lot of financial incentives for individuals to learn how to work with AI tools and how to make them a part of their regular workflow. In their most recent report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 25% increase in openings in the field over the next decade, which is a marked increase over the national average. This article will help prospective AI professionals learn how they will benefit from professional skills training and how they can get the skills they need to set themselves apart from other applicants.

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What AI skills will I need to learn to find a job?

AI is a rather diverse field, and there are generally two ways to approach the process of learning how to use those tools at a professional level. You can either focus your attention on the use of artificial intelligence in a broad sense or you can focus on how your existing professional skills can be supplemented or supported with AI training. Both of these paths offer students the chance to develop in-demand career skills, though where those skills are in demand will differ significantly.

The first path is to learn general AI skills, either to become a machine learning engineer or to work as an AI consultant. Both of these positions are booming as new firms are rapidly emerging to help businesses, institutions, and other brands develop AI-related strategies to empower their workflow. These professionals will want to enroll in courses that provide a robust overview of all of the different practical applications of artificial intelligence and how they can apply to a wide range of different professional projects. For example, they will want to understand how data analytics processes are used in everything from retail to investment to politics if they want to have the largest clientele base they can. They are also far, far more likely to want to learn to code so that they can help clients customize and design their own machine learning algorithms tailored to their professional business needs.

The second path is learning how to apply emerging artificial intelligence technologies to your current professional skill set, aiming to help you become a more competitive and productive employee using AI. This assumes that you either have some amount of significant professional training or you are in the process of getting that training at one of many tech training firms, such as Noble Desktop or General Assembly. For example, students who are looking to break into the world of graphic design will want to enroll in dedicated graphic design certificate training programs, and as a part of that training, they can learn how to use AI tools like Adobe Firefly to supplement their skill training. Graphic Designers won’t need to learn how AI can help Investment Managers collect data, just as Investment Managers won’t need to learn how to use graphic design tools as part of their AI training.

Regardless of what path you end up choosing, there are plenty of training centers and jobs available in both fields, as Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers are in high demand. They earn an average of about $145,000 annually, and major companies employ tens of thousands of data science professionals. Likewise, there are retail, financial, commerce, and education giants, as well as thousands of smaller businesses and institutions looking to hire AI professionals, and if you want to make yourself competitive in the hiring market, you’ll want to consider learning how AI can complement your existing professional skills. 

Practical things to consider when learning AI

When looking for a job in AI, there are a few practical things you’ll need and want to consider when preparing your materials. This isn’t as much about training as it is about giving you the best chance to find the job you want.

• An AI Portfolio: You’ll want to create a portfolio of your materials that is easily accessible and that allows employers to easily see the kinds of projects you’ve worked on and the outcomes of those projects. If you can make your portfolio interactive, that is even better since it will help prospective employers feel out your AI skills. 
• This portfolio can include everything from artificial intelligence projects that you’ve worked on to algorithms that you have trained, as well as projects that you have undertaken which, in turn, utilize these applications.
• Interview Preparation: You’ll also want to prepare for your interview and consider the ways in which you want to position yourself as an ideal AI-related. This can be achieved as part of your professional training program by simply having conversations with your instructors and cohort. This will help you develop a sense of your place within the field and the ways that you can be a contributor from day one

• Your Employers’ Goals: On the same note, you will want to spend some amount of time researching the companies you are applying for and the field/industry that you are planning to work in. Every company is going to be integrating AI into their workflow in slightly different ways, so framing your unique contribution to the specific company’s projects and practices is a good way to set yourself apart.

• Credentials: You want to make sure that your credentials are up-to-date and that they reflect positively on your fit for the job you are applying for. This can also mean changing your materials, including your portfolio to make yourself look like the best possible fit for which position those materials are for.

Which AI skills should I learn first?

If you’re just starting your journey to becoming an AI professional, it can be overwhelming to navigate the range of tools and platforms in this field, as well as where to start your training. The good news is you don’t need to master everything at once, as many programs are geared towards beginners with little to no experience working with AI. However, it can be helpful to learn these skills:

• Generative AI and ChatGPT: Learning these tools provides a solid introduction to how AI can generate text and even images. It’s common to see generative AI used in fields like content creation and customer service.

• SQL, Excel & Tableau: These three programs are the standard when it comes to working with data to simplify organization and analysis.

• Automation with Python: You can learn to use Python to help automate repetitive tasks and handle large amounts of data with minimal effort.

• Machine Learning Frameworks: Libraries like Scikit-learn make it easy to understand how machines can learn from data, even as a beginner in coding.

Where to learn AI skills

Learning AI skills can be daunting because there are so many different options available to you, ranging from self-teaching with the help of online resources to enrolling in a local college or university’s technical school or post-graduate professional programs. Choosing the right method can be a challenge, but with so many options, when you first figure out the best way to learn AI for you, you’ll be able to easily find a program that fits your needs. There are guides to the best AI classes in NYC, as well as online options, that cover the top AI classes and providers to help you narrow down which is best for your goals. 

Professional training centers like Noble Desktop, Fullstack Academy, and General Assembly, all of which offer online training services as well as in-person services, provide the most robust and varied AI training that you’re likely to find. This means that whether you are looking to learn how to write Python code to become a Machine Learning Engineer, how to integrate Adobe Firefly into your creative projects, or how to use ChatGPT in a wide variety of different business contexts, you are very likely to find a course that fits your needs with one or more of these training centers. You are also likely to find one that fits your budget and your time frame since these courses tend to be significantly less expensive and time-consuming than college programs while still being career-focused enough to help ensure that you leave the program ready to find a job in the competitive employment marketplace. These training services also offer VA-approved AI classes and support for veterans looking to develop their professional skills.