Retooling for AI: Tech Workers Adapt

12 min read        

We're diving into a transformative wave sweeping through the tech industry: the AI boom. Generative AI is revolutionizing the way we work, but it's also creating an unbalanced labor market. Tech professionals are racing to retool their skills, while new opportunities and challenges emerge every day. What is the frenzy, the fallout, and the future of tech work in the age of artificial intelligence? 

Welcome to That's Life, I Swear. This podcast is about life's happenings in this world that conjure up such words as intriguing, frightening, life-changing, inspiring, and more. I'm Rick Barron your host. 

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The artificial intelligence revolution has sparked a frantic scramble among tech professionals to revamp their expertise. With companies across industries clamoring to embrace AI, every worker now feels compelled to acquire AI-related capabilities.

To bridge the gap between their current knowledge and the emerging demands, employees are actively expanding their skill sets and acquiring new competencies to pivot into this transformative technology. Simultaneously, tech firms are rebranding themselves as AI companies and striving to reshape their workforce to be more adept in AI proficiencies.

Workers are attempting to bridge the gap between what they know and what they need to know, adding skills and knowledge. For some with prior experience with large language models, they discover the technology has significantly improved since they got into the job market. 

Large language models are machine learning models that can comprehend and generate human language text. They work by analyzing massive data sets of language.

Additionally, worker today have doubts whether companies truly understood the specific A.I. qualifications they are truly needing from job seekers.

No time to waste

Microsoft Corp. and LinkedIn unveiled the 2024 Work Trend Index, a collaborative report titled "AI at work is here. Now comes the hard part," which examines the current state of AI in the workplace. The research – drawing from a survey of 31,000 individuals across 31 countries, labor and hiring trends on LinkedIn, trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals, and studies with Fortune 500 clients – sheds light on how, within just one year, AI is shaping the way people work, lead, and hire globally. 

Concurrently, Microsoft announced new features in Copilot for Microsoft 365, while LinkedIn made available over 50 free learning courses for LinkedIn Premium subscribers, designed to empower professionals at all levels to enhance their AI aptitude.

Workforce Embraces AI, Leaving Companies Playing Catch-Up

A staggering 75% of knowledge workers now incorporate AI into their professional endeavors. Employees, many of whom are grappling with the relentless pace and volume of work, assert that AI streamlines processes, enhances creativity, and allows them to concentrate on their most critical tasks. However, while 79% of leaders acknowledge the critical nature of AI adoption to maintain a competitive edge, 60% concede that their company lacks a clear vision and plan for implementation. Consequently, employees are taking matters into their own hands. A remarkable 78% of AI users are bringing their own tools to the workplace – a phenomenon dubbed "Bring Your Own AI" (BYOAI) – thereby missing out on the advantages that arise from strategic, large-scale AI utilization and potentially compromising company data security.

Those who don’t want to miss the AI train, are taking that next step to enroll in courses, such as a two-week online AI boot camp offered by Deep Atlas, which costs $6,800. The workforce today is now facing no choice but to enhance their skill sets now, even if it doesn't immediately lead to employment.

A.I Prompt skills. Courtesy of: The Barbar

The tech labor market finds itself in a state of imbalance. A high demand exists for a particular type of top-tier AI talent—particularly, those possessing technical knowledge or experience working with large language models (LLMs) that power chatbots capable of generating content. While companies actively seek candidates with such skills, there is a scarcity of workers qualified to fulfill these roles.

Then there is the rest of the workforce. Thousands have faced layoffs in recent years, and many still employed are struggling with new management approaches, reorganizations, and resource reallocations toward AI initiatives. These workers are now enrolling in AI courses, incorporating buzzwords into their résumés, and vying in an increasingly crowded field.

Tony Phillips, co-founder of the Deep Atlas boot camp, has observed a significant rise in the urgency among tech workers regarding the need to upskill. Deep Atlas recently expanded their summer AI boot camp by adding five more slots.

People are seeing the writing on the wall, and that is their jobs could become obsolete. You're probably not going to be replaced by AI, but rather be replaced by someone who knows AI and can perform your job.

According to the 2024 Work Trend Index from Microsoft and LinkedIn, LinkedIn members are incorporating skills like Copilot and ChatGPT into their profiles. The survey also revealed that job postings on LinkedIn mentioning AI receive 17% more applications compared to non-AI roles.

The survey revealed the intense need for AI skills, when sharing a story of a sales manager with over a decade of experience shared that his software-as-a-service company had undergone multiple reorganizations, more stringent performance evaluations, and several small rounds of layoffs. This person applied for positions at OpenAI and Anthropic but received no response from either company. They surmised that they lacked the requisite AI-specific sales experience to secure an interview.

While tech firms heavily invest in AI, they are not embarking on hiring sprees reminiscent of past years. According to the tech trade association CompTIA, new tech job postings have decreased from an average of around 308,000 per month in 2019 to 180,000 per month as of April.

A.I. and impact on Knowledge Workers. Courtesy of: Coursera

Those in the AI know

1.     Although AI and machine learning jobs are growing as a percentage of all U.S. tech job postings, they still constitute a small portion of the overall tech job market. AI and machine-learning postings increased from 9.5% of tech jobs in January 2023 to 11.5% in April 2024, according to data from labor-market analyst Lightcast. However, this growth is occurring amid depressed demand for tech workers overall, said Art Zeile, chief executive of DHI Group, the parent company of the tech careers marketplace Dice.
 
Zeile notes that many of those hiring for AI or AI-adjacent roles are consulting firms, stating, "What that means is, the large companies are starting with business consultants to do pilots or prototypes."

2.     According to Nancy Xu, founder of Moonhub, a recruiting firm that hires talent for companies in artificial intelligence, many tech workers are specifically seeking employment at companies that are tackling challenges in the AI domain. She notes that even though they may be working at desirable tech companies, "they're leaving them because they want to go to an AI company."

Xu advises candidates not to be overly discouraged by a lack of experience. Many firms seek talent to build applications on top of large language models, which requires software engineering skills but not necessarily AI-specific experience.

3.     Elena Chatziathanasiadou, a program manager, oversees the ChatGPT-maker OpenAI's six-month residency program and says the company is willing to take a chance on workers new to the AI space. 
 
Elena emphasizes that a willingness to learn and a commitment to the company's mission are more important than prior experience in AI. 
 
The program has welcomed participants from diverse backgrounds, including college dropouts, neuroscientists, and a graduate from the Juilliard School who worked on an AI-based music research project.

4.     Anna X. Wang, head of AI at the education-tech company Multiverse, is currently building a machine-learning engineering team. She cites three crucial criteria: coding skills, soft skills including learning agility and the ability to collaborate across teams, plus a foundational knowledge of AI theory, even if it is self-taught or acquired through online courses.

Wang acknowledges that finding candidates who meet the first two criteria is challenging enough. Still, when the third requirement of "not just dabbling with ChatGPT" but genuinely comprehending which AI tools are appropriate for solving specific problems is added, the pool of qualified candidates becomes extremely limited.
 

5.     Juliet Kelso, a consultant who has worked on projects at Meta and Google to identify opportunities for AI implementation, pivoted into the field about a year and a half ago, before the competition became so intense. She took the initiative to learn about AI on her own accord.

Juliet states, and I quote: "I conducted a research project that identified the most suitable AI tools based on company size, business use case, and whether the client prioritizes the most innovative AI offerings or platforms." End quote.

Since then, Kelso has founded Oasis Collective, a group in San Francisco that hosts networking and educational events for women in the AI field. She has observed multiple founders teaching themselves how to build AI products so they can shift the focus of their startups.
 
Another comment from Juliet, and I quote: "There exists a hierarchy of coolness among AI founders," she says. "The lowest rung of coolness would be if you have a company, and you're merely using integrated AI tools in your offering while labeling yourself an AI company." 

So, where does this leave us? Tech companies are striving to enhance the AI proficiency of their entire workforces. Training courses are ranging from fundamentals to ethical AI use. 

It’s my belief that to survive and keep your head above water in this rapidly changing world, that everyone should undergo reskilling and, in some way, be equipped with the necessary tools to thrive in this new AI world. 

It’s here, so get on board. 

What can we learn from this story?  What's the takeaway?

We have reached a critical juncture in the integration of AI into the workplace. Just as we now reflect on the pre-PC era with a sense of bewilderment, a time will come when we ponder how work was accomplished without the aid of AI. 

Already, AI is enabling individuals to be more creative and productive, while providing job seekers with a competitive edge. Over time, it will transform every aspect of the professional landscape. 

As we confront the difficult phase of this technological disruption – converting experimentation into tangible business impact – companies that boldly embrace the challenge will surge ahead. In this pivotal moment, the audacious shall be favored by fortune.

Well, there you go, my friends; that's life, I swear

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website, which you can find on Apple Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned and the episode transcript.

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