The fields of accounting, product management, defense, and music are witnessing a shift towards working in artificial intelligence.
Great Opportunities in Artificial Intelligence
Many workers have decided to leave their jobs to work in the field of artificial intelligence due to the abundant opportunities available in this rapidly growing field and their desire to take advantage of them. Some have started their own AI-related companies, while others have learned new skills to work in this area.
Moritz Kreymborg
Moritz Kreymborg, a product manager at a German startup, always dreamed of founding his own company. When OpenAI launched ChatGPT, Kreymborg decided to use his parental leave in February 2023 to learn the ins and outs of this technology. He already used ChatGPT in his work to generate ideas, conduct research, and draft strategic documents, and realized how much time it saved him. Kreymborg decided to create content on social media about AI tools like ChatGPT and monetize it. By April, Kreymborg was posting daily on X, formerly known as Twitter, about AI-related topics like ChatGPT prompts and AI assistance tools. Within just a few weeks, his page attracted thousands of followers and opportunities began to arise. Startups like 10Web and Personal AI reached out to Kreymborg to run ads for their AI products, and followers asked him to train them on ChatGPT. Weeks after Kreymborg’s leave ended, it became clear to him that he wanted to focus on growing his business. In June, he decided to leave his job to pursue the AI project full-time.
Explosion of AI Jobs
Kreymborg is not the only one who has left a full-time job to pursue a career in artificial intelligence. This shift comes with a flow of billions of dollars into new AI initiatives and startups following the rise of ChatGPT. Earlier last year, companies like Meta, Netflix, and Amazon were looking for people who could develop AI models, some offering salaries of up to $900,000 a year. Non-tech companies in sectors like health, education, and law were also seeking employees who know how to utilize AI tools. Productive AI has also created new types of jobs, such as inference engineers and chief AI officers, paving the way for a small industry of profitable side gigs like teaching ChatGPT courses and editing AI content.
Great Opportunities in Artificial Intelligence
It seems that workers are now betting on their careers in artificial intelligence to take advantage of the hype surrounding it. While some have left their jobs to start their own AI-related businesses, others are learning an entirely new set of skills to gain an edge in the job market. Business Insider spoke with five people, including Kreymborg, who made that leap. So far, they have no regrets.
Available Opportunities in Artificial Intelligence
Justin Finberg, founder of Cassidy.ai, believes there is a huge demand for AI services. He decided to leave his job as a product manager at Blade, a helicopter transportation service, to start an AI assistance company. He said he chose to resign because he is confident that technology will be a top priority for companies in the coming years. In the months leading up to his resignation, the 25-year-old New Yorker created TikTok videos about ChatGPT prompts, AI business tips, and the latest advancements in AI, which garnered millions of views. By December, he had gained over 220,000 followers on TikTok. Although Finberg said that leaving his job felt like “jumping off a cliff,” the success of his content reassured him that there is a demand for AI services that can help people in their personal and professional lives.
Jacqueline
DiStefano-Tangora
Jacqueline DiStefano-Tangora, a former accountant at PwC, decided to leave the company after six years to focus full-time on Omni Business Intelligence Solutions, her data analytics company. After working on an AI project at PwC to develop predictive software, the 30-year-old realized how beneficial artificial intelligence is in the corporate world. This idea was reinforced when she first used ChatGPT. She saw how advanced AI is and how it can be used to automate tasks, allowing her the opportunity to become an expert in the field of generative AI. The young woman, who resides in Long Island, said, “I was amazed by what is coming to the world, and I realized that I needed to find a way to leverage that and learn it.” Jacqueline DiStefano-Tangora jumped at the opportunity to teach her clients how to use AI.
Learning AI skills is hard, but not all new
While some disruptors in the workforce have fully immersed themselves in the AI industry, others needed some time to prepare for work in this field. After testing missile control systems at Lockheed Martin for nearly eight years, Ted Libantino decided to leave the company to learn the skills he needed to work in the AI industry. For several months, the 32-year-old took free online courses on algorithms and machine learning on sites like Coursera. He then started as a junior engineer at LinkedIn through the site’s career transition program. He was assigned to the team that trains internal machine learning models in a way that protects user data. He said that learning to build AI models wasn’t easy. There was a “high learning curve,” as AI is a “very technical” field that was completely foreign to him. After seven months in the program – with additional help from ChatGPT – Libantino now feels more confident in performing his job. He learned new programming skills like multiprocessing and multithreading, as well as soft skills like feeling comfortable seeking help. He said, “The opportunity he had to get a mentor and learn on the job was the best way for me to transition into this field.”
However, not all workers who transitioned to the AI field needed to learn a completely new set of skills from scratch. Javier Orman, who was a violin engineer and music teacher and now works as a full-time machine learning engineer at LinkedIn, said that many of the skills he learned in the music industry were applicable to his new job in Chicago. These skills include communication, collaboration, clearly presenting ideas, and the ability to overcome learning obstacles.
DiStefano-Tangora said that cleaning, organizing, and analyzing data – skills she gained from her days as an accountant – were useful when providing AI services to her clients.
Transitioning to the AI field may require education and a bit of ego
All the workers now in the AI field whom Business Insider spoke with agree that changing their jobs was the right choice. In November, Karim mentioned that he makes the same amount from his work in AI as he did when he was a product manager through sponsorships, audience training, and teaching clients how to use AI. If all goes well, he plans to expand his services to sell motivation libraries and create customized AI chatbots for businesses.
It seems that Finberg and DiStefano-Tangora are also happy with the progress they have made in changing the course of their careers. Since Finberg launched Cassidy.ai in March, the CEO has raised $625,000 in venture capital funding, attracted thousands of potential customers to join the waitlist, and hired several full-time employees. In just three months of working full-time, DiStefano-Tangora secured new contracts worth $128,000 to teach clients how to integrate AI into their workflows and is now looking to work with clients to build customized chatbots using GPT models.
To transition
In the field of artificial intelligence, Kareem suggests making a name for yourself on social media by creating content about AI. This way, people will see you online as an expert, which could lead to profit opportunities in the future. Destefano-Tangura suggests staying up-to-date with the latest AI news and reinvesting in education through courses. For those who may not have a technical background, Lipantino and Orman advise career changers not to let their fear of a completely new field hinder them from achieving their professional goals. Finberg states that there is even no need to leave your current job to transition into the AI field. The CEO of an AI startup says that you can become the AI expert in your current workplace by knowing how to automate workflows. He says, “Every company wants to implement AI now, and honestly, you might get a promotion.”
Source: https://www.aol.com/meet-5-workers-quit-jobs-100002922.html
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