What is an AI engineer? Explanation of necessary skills, study methods, etc.

In recent years, the demand for AI ( artificial intelligence ) engineers has increased.

In this article, I would like to introduce the jobs and annual income of AI engineers, as well as the skills and study methods necessary for those who want to become AI engineers.

What is an AI engineer?

machine learning engineer

Machine learning engineers are mainly responsible for creating AI models.

Examples of AI models include AI that identifies defective products in factories through image recognition, and chatbots that provide the best automatic responses by analyzing user questions through natural language processing.

Machine learning engineers select appropriate learning models, such as deep learning, to build AI models for the issues faced by customers.

AI replaces and assists with simple tasks that have traditionally been done manually.

data scientist

In contrast to machine learning engineers who build AI models, data scientists analyze large amounts of data using AI technology.

Growing demand for AI engineers and examples of AI utilization

I think that the word AI has come to be heard more often in advertisements and news, such as self-driving cars and 〇〇 home appliances equipped with AI (artificial intelligence ) .

The reasons for this are thought to be that AI has become able to replace tasks that could only be done manually, and that AI technology is being used to analyze vast amounts of data.

high income! ? Annual income of AI engineers

You may have heard on the news or on social media that AI engineers are paid higher than ordinary engineers.

Recently, Japanese companies are offering high salaries to acquire excellent AI engineers.

For example, NEC pays 10 million yen to talented new graduates, DeNA pays 6 to 10 million yen, and Fujitsu pays up to 40 million yen.

Although he is a very talented AI human resource, it is surprising that he earns 10 million yen a year from a new graduate.

So what are the salaries of other AI talents?

It is introduced in the article below. (Since the annual income varies depending on the company, not all AI engineers are earning high income.)

Why is your income so high?

As you can see above, AI engineers earn more than regular engineers.

Why are they able to get paid so much, not just because demand is high.

It is possible that not everyone can easily become an AI engineer because working as an AI engineer requires advanced skills.

In the next chapter, I would like to summarize the skills necessary for AI engineers.

Skills required for AI engineers

The skills possessed by AI engineers require more advanced knowledge and abilities than engineers who perform normal programming.

professional knowledge

Expert knowledge is knowledge about AI. A variety of specialized knowledge is required, such as the concept of AI, what kind of learning model to use in creating an AI model, the selection of data to be used for learning, and the adjustment of parameters.

Knowledge of mathematics and statistics

Knowledge of mathematics and statistics is necessary to acquire knowledge and skills related to AI.

Since AI technology is based on knowledge of linear algebra and statistics, it cannot be understood without university-level knowledge of mathematics and statistics.

programming ability

As an engineer, it goes without saying that programming ability is also important.

AI knowledge alone is not enough to build an AI model.

In order to build a model, programming ability such as Python is essential.

(In recent years, services such as AutoML that can build AI models without programming have appeared, so it is no longer necessary, but…)

Ability to use libraries and frameworks for model building such as TensorFlow and PyTorch is required.

How to become an AI engineer

AI engineers have the glamorous part of high income, but the specialized knowledge and necessary skills are advanced, so it is not possible for anyone to do it casually.

If you want to become an AI engineer from now on, I will summarize how you need to do it.

Learn at AI school

The number of schools where you can acquire specialized knowledge is increasing.

There are more courses that you can learn for free, so please check it out.

study at university

Universities are academic places where you can learn cutting-edge, advanced knowledge and technology.

get qualified

Did you know that there is actually a qualification related to AI?

In order to become an AI engineer, it is not necessary to have qualifications, but the questions asked in these qualification exams are questions that AI engineers should know.

in conclusion

In this article, we have summarized the AI ​​engineer.

In an era where AI technology will become more and more popular in the future, engineers who are not AI engineers may also need AI knowledge.

In order to keep up with the world as an engineer, I would like to acquire AI knowledge and technology.