Since 2015, job portals from New York to San Francisco have seen an escalation in demand for professionals in AI and machine learning. According to the global job portal Indeed the job openings titled machine learning and AI engineers has the highest growth rate of 344% between 2015 and 2018, especially in the New York City.

It is quite surprising to note that New York and not San Francisco is the leading capital for the burgeoning AI industry.

Is it a good news?

It depends. It is a good news for professionals who want to have a career in AI and not so good news for organizations who are seeking AI engineers.

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Why?

The challenge remains… limited talent pool!

It’s one of the major challenges, and it has opened the gates for the viable candidates to command higher pay packages for their skills.

The average base salary for ML/AI engineers is $146,085 in 2018, up from $136, 241 in 2017, according to the latest report by Indeed.

Source: Indeed

Incidentally, the rewarding salaries that are offered on job portals like Indeed.com, are nothing as compared to the AI jobs with huge money, which get filled either directly or via head-hunters. These jobs come with huge bonuses and stock options.

If this is not enough food for thought … then read this …

The study released by Indeed reported that there has been a rise of 182% in the search entries for AI and machine learning positions in the last three years. While it spells good news for the industry, it doesn’t mean increased qualified candidates, as the tussle to find skilled candidates continues.

What Does It Mean for Aspiring AI Engineers?

An opportunity to bridge the gap and become the most wanted (literally) professional.

How?

By acquiring the required skills and qualifications.

There is an escalation in demand is a given. At the same time there has been a hike in pay packages as well. According to one of the New York based Management organizations 10X Management says that AI engineers today command about $1000 an hour, which is more than triple the pay engineers commanded about five years back.

👉Good News for those who are studying for AI jobs?

Yes, it is… the crunch in the industry implies that students vying for a career in AI with required skill set can command bigger pay packets. Not only that, they are often offered well-paying jobs well before they graduate.

Amidst all this it will be interesting to note that while almost all the countries are waking up to AI benefits, the US is the current leader as far is the demand for Artificial Intelligence engineers is concerned.

As Glassdoor, says in its study, about 67% of all AI jobs listed on its site are located in the New York City, Seattle, Bay Area and Los Angeles.

City Wise Earnings of AI Engineers in United States

👉So What’s in Store for Future AI/machine learning Engineers…

Success … if you play your cards right.

There is an ocean of opportunities waiting for you to dive into them. The world is your oyster or rather I should say New York is your oyster.

But before you dive into the whirlpool of opportunities just ensure that you are armed with the right skill set and educational qualifications.

Important Qualifications for AI You Need to Master

Broadly the qualifications for AI Engineers is divided into three categories — education, skills and personality traits.

Education: AI engineers are educated individuals with most of them possessing Bachelor’s degree. Followed by professionals with masters and doctorate degrees. Here is a breakdown of required educational qualifications for AI engineers in top tech-based organizations.

Skill set: As an AI/machine learning engineer you need to be proficient in these key skill sets — Mathematics and Algorithms, Physics, engineering and robotics, Computer science, programming languages and coding, Cognitive science theory, Python/C++/R/Java, Probability and Statistics, Expanding the Expertise in Unix Tools. Other important skills include — machine learning, data science Hadoop, Big Data, Java, Spark and SAS. In fact, data science is the top most ranking skills, recruiters seek in AI professionals. Personality traits: Some of the essential personality traits that an AI/machine learning professionals should possess include — analytical thinking, innate curiosity, creative vision, patience, ability to work independently or collaboratively, discipline, and attention to detail.

👉AI/Machine Learning Engineers — Future Job Scope

Indeed, the leading job portal, in its report said that it had analyzed millions of job postings in the US from June 2015 to June 2018 (including the month) and found that — Job titles that had more than 20% of online postings had either “artificial intelligence” or “machine learning” in the description and had information about salary and location.

It means that…

While AI innovations are set to bring huge transformative changes in the world of technology, candidates who wish to forge a career in AI need to network, attend AI related events and keep up with the latest industry news. And this should be done in tandem with earning the right degree and brushing up on the finer points of important AI skills.