While tech workers are struggling with stagnant salaries, layoffs and an overall decline in demand for their skills compared to the past decade, artificial intelligence experts have become the new “it” girls in Silicon Valley.
“Every single product that we're working on today, and every single product that we're seeing today, is moving to being AI-driven,” says Zach Brown, founder of AI startup NonprofitsHQ. “It's a tough time to be a regular software engineer.”
When Brown was job hunting last year, he hadn't updated his resume to emphasize the work he'd done with AI in previous roles. Brown, 28, had been used to companies vying to speak with experienced software engineers, but suddenly he wasn't seeing the same interest.
“I've been a software engineer my whole life,” Brown told Vox, “and in my last survey, I realized I needed to emphasize AI because that's what's sexy to enterprises right now.”
While tech companies and investors seem to be retreating from every other part of the tech industry, money is still flowing into AI, which the industry sees as the next big thing. This means the demand, compensation, and perks for people who can do this work are outsized. This situation is very attractive for people who have been recently laid off in tech or who are worried that tech jobs don't offer the same advancement opportunities as before. To take advantage of this situation, people with tech-related careers are looking to relocate to where the good jobs are. Besides getting another degree, many are looking to do so through on-the-job training, bootcamps, or self-study.
“If you look at the jobs being advertised on job sites right now, there's a strong emphasis on software engineers with a background in AI,” tech recruiter Ediana Rosen told Vox. (In the 12 months ending May 31, 2023, employers are seeking AI-related skills in 1.1 million job ads, more than double the number from the same period last year, according to data from salary site Salary.com.)
“Plus, they have more advantage and leverage when negotiating higher salaries.”
According to data from compensation software company Payscale, salaries for people with AI skills are 27% higher on average than general tech workers. According to data from tech career comparison site Levels.fyi, the average annual salary for AI engineers in May was $243,500, compared with $166,750 for non-AI engineers. And their salaries are growing at a faster pace. Salaries for senior software engineers specializing in AI and machine learning have increased 4% since the beginning of the year, while salaries for senior software engineers overall have remained flat, according to Comprehensive.io, which tracks compensation at more than 3,000 tech companies. Thirty percent of new pipelines last month were AI-related, a fivefold increase over the past three months, according to A.Team, a company that connects groups of tech talent with companies looking to hire their services.
Big tech companies are scouting AI talent from universities while retracting offers to non-AI talent, says Zuhair Musa, co-founder of Levels.fyi, which also helps candidates negotiate offers. These companies are doing everything they can to retain their top talent, offering millions of dollars in retention bonuses to key AI engineers, who would otherwise leave for more exciting opportunities elsewhere, especially smaller companies where the work is more interesting and there is more potential for growth both financially and technologically.
“It's kind of a bonanza,” Musa said. “We're seeing people moving from all over the place to all over the place.”
In contrast to crypto and Web3, few people believe that AI will be a passing fad. Of course, how widespread AI becomes will depend largely on how profitable it is for businesses. With tech workers already losing their jobs to AI, many believe they'd be better off getting ahead of it. They're turning to Reddit communities and friends and colleagues already in the field to figure out how they can pivot to AI. Rather than AI replacing jobs, AI can help you get high-paying jobs.
Brown said that while she is no longer looking for work since founding her AI startup, to market herself, it was important to her tout the skills she already had and the ones she picked up on the job. Her previous employer gave her the opportunity and time to work on another team working on machine learning and AI, helping her fill in skill gaps. Brown said that while bootcamps and online courses can be a good introduction to the skills needed for AI, the most effective instruction is doing it yourself.
“A lot of it is going to come from actually doing it, working through these systems, screwing them up, making mistakes, learning from them and moving forward,” he said.
That's not always easy to do, especially in an economy where even skilled workers are being laid off and companies are better off hiring people who already have those skills.
Taylor, a software developer from North Carolina who asked that his real name not be used to avoid potential employment problems, plans to take a side job at a friend's AI startup where he hopes to learn from back-end engineers with machine learning experience. His goal isn't to become an AI engineer, but to get better at his job as he sees AI permeating regular software development work in the near future.
“It's either going to help me get better at my current job or it's going to help me get my next job,” Taylor, 41, said.
Eric Lamy, a customer data product manager who usually works with engineers, is trying to learn more about AI governance because he believes it will be necessary in the future in his current job, where he sits on a corporate cybersecurity task force and there's a lot of focus on how to deploy AI responsibly. To better understand this new technology, the 37-year-old is educating himself using body of knowledge documents published by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, which will soon offer certification and training for AI governance professionals.
“This transition isn't so much relying on a gap in my current career as it is that it just doesn't exist yet as a function,” Lammy said. “I see this transition as a place where people who can get in early and learn some of these frameworks and apply this governance thinking have the opportunity to do a really good job.”
Nitin Pathak, a data scientist at Microsoft, recently completed a six-month specialized certification in machine learning and AI from Berkeley to better perform his job. “This certification really helped me understand the connections between machine learning and AI concepts and which models are appropriate for different business situations,” he said.
“I've worked in technology for decades, and it's clear that in today's world, everyone is going to have many careers,” he added. “I love technology and I don't want to be obsolete. I want to be on the cutting edge.”
Even those who study AI as part of advanced degrees are constantly striving to stay up to date with the latest technology.
Nicole Hedley is a 30-year-old full-stack product engineer who runs a consulting firm that specializes in generative AI. She took artificial intelligence and machine learning courses while working on her computer science degree, and especially in the last year, AI projects have dominated her work and given her lots of hands-on exposure to new AI projects. Still, she's constantly trying to keep up with new advancements in AI.
“There's been a lot of developments recently so it's a constant learning process,” Hedley said.
Of course, being familiar with AI won't guarantee a perfect career.
Alexander Whedon, a software engineer specializing in AI, was laid off by Meta earlier this year despite his skills, but now sees the loss as a blessing in disguise. Whedon, also 30, works as a freelancer on a variety of projects for a variety of companies.
“This is a lot more fun and, honestly, I'm making more money now,” said Whedon, who advocates building your own AI projects over attending a bootcamp.
“The future of every company is uncertain,” he added, “but I think the potential for AI is huge.”
A version of this story also appeared in the Vox Technology Newsletter. Register here Be sure not to miss it next time!
