South Africa, just like any other country has a fast-growing economy with high demand for skilled and professional workers in vast Industries around the globe.
In an advanced community, technology and AI machines are being used to carry out tasks such as complex calculations, analyzing data, and making predictions based on large sets. In the health sector, AI machines are used to analyze medical images and help diagnose diseases. All these are done with the development of sophisticated algorithms and powerful computers.
AI machines help to improve productivity in various sectors like financial sectors, engineering, agriculture, healthcare, educational sectors and many other industries. With this, Ai engineers are in high-demand jobs in South Africa and the world at large as more and more Industries are being established.
In addition to calculations, AI machines are also being used to carry out a wide range of other tasks, such as language translation, speech recognition, and even driving cars. As technology continues to advance, we can expect AI machines to become even more capable and to play an increasingly important role in our daily lives.
What is AI or Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence or AI is a program whereby a computer or a machine is stimulated to carry out tasks usually done by humans. AI is a field in computer science and engineering that deals with the development of machines and computer programs that can perform tasks that require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation.
These machines are built with data derived from past happening, and past actions which they use to make decisions and perform tasks. And AI machines can also make limited adjustments depending on the type of AI, to handle new inputs and respond negatively or positively.
What is AI Engineering?
Artificial Intelligence engineering is a field that deals with the implementation of both human intelligence and computer intelligence by AI engineers, to develop and deploy AI-based systems. AI Engineering involves the design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of AI-based software and systems.
Is AI Engineering a good career?
Ai engineering is a good career, one of the best career interested individuals can venture into, considering the way most industries now rely on Ai machines to help simplify tasks commonly done by humans, to help improve productivity and predictions. Top companies are currently on the hunt for skilled AI engineers to help with the day-to-day running of their business technologically, and these companies pay good salaries.
Does AI engineering pay well? The average salary of AI engineers is estimated to be $110,000 according to data obtained from Glassdoor which is satisfying and can be increased depending on one’s experience and skills.
Also Read: High In-demand Jobs Without Degree In South Africa
Starting a career as an AI engineer is a good idea for anyone regardless of your location, your ability is what matters to the job market and can take you higher.
What are the duties of an AI Engineer?
Ai Engineers build AI machines. They are professionals who design, develop, and implement AI-based systems to solve complex problems. These systems or machines can range from chatbots to self-driving cars which require a deep understanding of machine learning, computer science, and statistics to accomplish, using different tools and techniques.
They also build different types of AI applications, such as contextual advertising based on sentiment analysis and visual identification or perception including language translation.
Skills Needed For AI Engineering
There are two main types of skills you need to become an AI Engineer which are Technical Skills and Soft Skills.
Technical Skills
Programming languages:
As an AI engineer, you must be proficient in programming languages such as Python, Java, C++, R, and SQL. Python is one of the most recommended programming high-level language software for starters, easily readable by humans, it’s easy to use and available in many libraries.
Machine Learning and Deep Learning Frameworks:
To become an AI engineer you should be familiar with the most used machine learning and have deep knowledge of frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras, and Scikit-learn, and understand the basics of linear algebra, calculus, and statistics.
Cloud Computing:
Cloud computing allows AI engineers to access great amounts of computing power, cloud storage, and data processing capabilities.
AI engineers should have experience working with cloud computing platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and understand how to create and deploy AI models on cloud-based platforms.
Data Structures and Algorithms:
Having a good foundation in data structure and algorithms in line with the framework is important for an AI engineer. The ability to design and implement efficient algorithms for tasks such as data preprocessing, model training, and optimizations.
Data structures and algorithms are the building blocks of computer science, and they are very important for the efficient processing and manipulation of large amounts of data which is a crucial part of AI development.
Natural Language Processing (NLP):
AI engineers should have experience working with NLP techniques and libraries like NLTK, spaCy, and Gensim. With this, an Ai engineer will have the required knowledge when it comes to preprocessing text data and building models for tasks like sentiment analysis, text classification, and machine translation for AI machines.
Computer Vision:
Should have basic knowledge of computer vision techniques and libraries like OpenCV and DLIB. To be able to preprocess image data and build AI models for tasks like object detection and facial recognition for AI machines.
What is computer vision? Computer vision is a field of AI that enables computers and systems to derive meaningful information from digital images, videos, and other visual inputs.
Big Data Analysis:
Understanding data is a vital part of AI engineering. AI engineers should have good knowledge and experience working with big data technologies, such as Hadoop, Spark, and Kafka. Ai engineers should understand how to process large amounts of data and build scalable AI models.
Software Engineering:
This involves the use of different tools, methodologies, and techniques to create and ensure that software is reliable, efficient, and maintainable.
AI engineers should have experience with software engineering principles and practices like version control, agile development, and software testing. Ai engineers should be able to build maintainable and scalable AI systems or machines.
Soft Skills
Problem Solving And Creativity:
Creative thinking is important in AI engineering. Every AI engineer should be able to solve complex issues or problems relating to AI machines innovatively.
AI machines require human intervention and creativity to solve complex problems, with a combination of technical skills and soft skills. AI engineers need to be able to think outside the box, analyze complex data sets, and develop new algorithms that can solve real-time problems.
Communication:
As an AI engineer, you should be able to communicate complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders or audiences.
Time Management:
In most cases, AI engineers may have to work on multiple projects simultaneously which requires time management skills for the smooth running and delivery of projects on time and within budget.
Teamwork and Collaboration:
Every AI engineer needs to have the skill of working with others, working in teams, especially in building complex AI systems, helping to improve productivity with ideas put together.
Adaptability and Flexibility:
AI field is rapidly evolving, and engineers need to be able to adapt to new technologies, tools, and processes. This help to stay ahead of the curve and deliver high-quality solutions in response to high demand.
How to Become an AI Engineer
Education:
In any career aspect, education is vital by any means. A degree in computer science, mathematics, or engineering is the most common educational path you can take to become an AI engineer. Obtaining a secondary school diploma, a bachelor’s degree, or a master’s degree in computer science, or any related field can certainly help you in becoming an AI engineer, meanwhile it is not limited to.
Obtaining a high degree in AI engineering field has the potential to open up a wealth of employment doors years ahead.
Gain Experience:
Working on a project that is related to AI engineering will help you build a portfolio that can help you develop the technical and soft skills required for AI engineering. Build a strong portfolio by working on personal projects, contributing to open-source projects, and participating in hackathons.
Hackathon is a program or event also known as a code fest where programmers come together to improve a program or software.
Join AI Communities:
Join AI communities and attend meetups like hackathons, conferences, and workshops to network with other professionals in the field, and stay up to date with the latest development in AI-related fields.
Obtain Certifications:
Obtain certifications in machine learning, deep learning, and AI technologies to help demonstrate your expertise easily to potential employers or buyers.
Understand machine Learning:
AI engineering involves building and training machine learning models. You can start by learning the basics of machine learning algorithms, data structures, and algorithms. There are many online courses and tutorials available to learn about machine learning.
Practice your skills:
Once you have learned programming and machine learning, start practicing your skills by building your projects. You can start by building simple projects like chatbots, recommendation systems, or image recognition systems.
Hackathons are a great opportunity for AI engineers to put their skills to the test and build real-world applications. You can participate in local or online hackathons to gain experience.
Can I be an AI Engineer without a degree?
Becoming an AI engineer without a degree requires a combination of self-learning, practice, and networking. By following the steps above in this article, you can gain the skills and experience needed to pursue a career in AI engineering.
AI engineering is a high-demand job in South Africa and requires a diverse set of skills that range from programming and machine learning to data analysis and problem-solving.