AI researcher Chip Heughan, who previously worked on Nvidia's NeMo platform and taught machine learning at Stanford University, offered advice to IT professionals looking to stay competitive in the AI era.
AI researcher Chip Heughan, who previously worked on Nvidia's NeMo platform and taught machine learning at Stanford University, offered advice to IT professionals looking to stay competitive in the AI era.
In an interview with Business Insider, Heuwen stressed that to remain competitive in the AI era, it is necessary to start practicing immediately.
“It doesn’t matter what you create, the main thing is to go through the entire process “from idea to final deployment” so that the result can be used by, for example, your friend,” notes Hughen.
If you don't know where to start, Heuen suggests doing a simple exercise.
“For a week, write down everything that annoys you about your daily processes. For example, ‘Why does this take so long?’ or ‘Why do I have to repeat this?’ Try to think of a way to solve each problem using technology, and then choose one to implement ,” advises the AI researcher.
“Learning only by creating is like learning a new language only by speaking it,” says Heuwen.
That is why, in her opinion, it is extremely important that IT specialists who want to improve their skills, in addition to developing their own projects, study the AI tools they use in order to better understand them.
“It’s also worth structuring your studies by choosing a specific curriculum, books, or courses,” she adds.
For students studying computer science or engineers looking to expand their knowledge base, Huyen advises mastering systems thinking first.
“Coding is just a means to an end. Computer science is about systems thinking, about using code to solve real problems. The skill of problem-solving will never go away, because as AI can automate more tasks, the problems will simply get bigger ,” notes Huyen.
She believes that the ability to think holistically and integrate disparate knowledge to solve big problems will remain critically important.
"Employers highly value specialists who have a deep understanding of complex systems, are able to solve problems effectively, and think systemically, not locally," she emphasized.
