I pivoted my tech career to focus on AI. Now I make $6,400 a week, but I'm more interested in staying relevant than money.

• Convinced that AI is the future, Mostofa Adib Shakib has directed his career towards AI skills.

• He has the flexibility to build new skills as he chooses not to work in traditional technology jobs.

• He created a project to develop agent AI skills and is currently making $6,400 a week as an AI contractor.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 28-year-old Mostofa Adib Shakib, an Iowa software engineer, pivots his career to focus on building AI skills. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

My goal was to always be like Elon Musk and bet on myself.

I grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh and moved to the US in 2017 for my undergraduate students. After graduating, I worked as a software engineer, first at Snap Inc. and then at Ziprecruiter.

When ChatGpt came out, I realized that the world was changing and wanted to mature with AI. So in 2024, I quit traditional software engineering and focused on building AI skills. Now I work as a contractor for an AI-led company and have more free time to build this skill set.

To stay relevant, people are lifelong learners and should not be scared of what is happening in the world. We need to embrace change and try to upskill.

Do you love business insiders? Add Business Insider as Google's preferred source to see more.

Starting my career at Snap Inc. was an incredible experience

During his four years of study at Texas Tech, he completed two bachelor's degrees in computer science and mathematics in minors in electrical engineering. I graduated in 2021.

He then landed his first full-time software engineering job at Snap Inc. in June 2021. My base salary was $125,000 and I was also paid a bonus and stock. I worked on the Snapchat messaging team, a central part of my business. Everyone I knew was really smart and kind. At the time, there were great perks like meal cards to buy food every week.

In December 2022, I started a new job with Ziprecruiter, earning $145,000 on base salary, bonuses and stock options. I wanted experience with a small team that had more from scratch and one opportunity.

I've left traditional software engineering and started making more money with AI

When ChatGpt was first announced in November 2022, I knew the world was shifting to AI.

My goal was to constantly maximize learning and build skills that I could use later. I felt that increasing AI skills would be a good strategy for my future, as agents' AI skills are manifesting in a more niche way compared to working with mobile applications.

My visa situation was the biggest obstacle to pivoting the focus of my career. I worked for a type of student job approval called optional practical training on Snapchat and Ziprecruiter, but it expired in July 2024 and had to stop working with Ziprecruiter.

With the help of a lawyer, I applied for a flexible type of visa, an agent-based O-1 for “extraordinary” talent. Rather than being tied to an employer, as I use an alternative H-1B employment visa, the lawyers arranged for the company to act as my “agent” and sponsored my application so that I could work for multiple companies or become an entrepreneur.

I received my O-1 in September. Without the same visa concerns as before, I decided it was a good time to focus on building AI skills instead of working for another high-tech company.

I had a strong foundation in AI knowledge. I've done a lot of AI research in the past, and my university math classes were AI-related. However, I lacked a deep knowledge of how LLM is built and its limitations. I learned more using books, videos and research papers. We have decided to build a software project to help Bangladeshi experts develop agent AI skills, including tools to help them optimize their resumes using AI.

I don't necessarily rely on these projects for income. My income recently comes mainly from consulting and the role of contractors I started at Mercor, an AI-led recruitment startup in February.

I am a full-time contract as a software engineer working on AI products. I've been making $6,200 a week since February, but recently I've been given a salary increase of up to $6,400 a week. It's more than I was making weekly money with Ziprecruiter. It feels good to make more, but money was never my goal. I'm more excited about the company and working with extremely talented people.

I don't see myself working at a company right now.

Being a full-time employee at the company is stable and offers great benefits, but in the role of a contractor, I can spread my time.

If I was still employed in the company in a non-AAI role, I could have built agent AI skills over the weekend, but I only studied 10-20 hours a week. In theory, you might have tried to join an AI company next, but you still have the same skill set focused on mobile development. I wanted to show up where I wanted to be, in order to increase my future leverage.

I really think AI is the future. This is similar to a big shift like the adoption of PCs and the Internet, but we are in the early stages of that shift, so there are many opportunities. I think we are making the right bet to focus on these opportunities before the market really gets crowded.

Are there any stories to share about labor cultures across different continents? Please contact this reporter ccheong@businessinsider.com.

Read the original article on Business Insider