I am 29 yr old and have no computer science background. I am so worried about shifting my career to AI this new area cuz I know that I won’t become an AI-related engineer at my age. However, is there any path I could aim for besides sales position in AI industry?
I do need some suggestions from the community and if you have career experience in China would be best.
Thank you!
29 years old is not consider old to shift career. I believe it is still implementable if plan properly. I would personally suggest to ask yourself which area you really want and build up your knowledge and portfolio by implementing some projects in GitHub etc. Slowly shift your focus. One don’t need to give up current job and go straight to a new area.
Other factors like commitments etc do play a part. But 29 years old definitely is not old. Good luck
Thanks a lot for your info and suggestions! Honestly, I am so confused about how to plan properly of what should I do next to keep myself on the right track. So if I do wanna consider more on the to B applications side in China. With my no coding background(but learning python recently), what specific areas would you suggest to dive into?
Thank you!
My personal opinion. If you really interested in a AI/ML domain and depend if you want a technical role or more of a business role, approaches would be slightly different, Eg. If you going on a Sales and Business Development role, you my not need a deep Python knowledge, DeepLearning.ai - AI for everyone and Gen AI for Everyone specialization etc would be a good start. Also, basic knowledge of Cloud like AWS, will be good. In Mainland China, of course would be Ali Yun阿里云 . Reason for learning Cloud is that in the real world, many are adapting the cloud for AI etc for training that need GPU. Currently, GPU as a Service is on the rise in China because of GPU shortage.
If you preparing for a more technical role, I would suggest Machine Learning Specialization follow by Deep Learning Specialization. Of course one will need to be comfortable in Python. In between these courses, you can do some mini projects if you are comfortable. If not, just keep learning. Then talk to friends who are in these area and you will know what the industry are going for. Eg, Everyone is talking on LLM and Gen AI etc. Don’t fall into the frenzy trap, if you going technical role, start from traditional ML slowly proceed to Deep Learning etc. You will be confuse if you go straight to Gen AI.
Again, for a Business and Sales role in AI, it would be better off knowing everything on a high level without the deep technical details as you will not be the one doing.
In short, just keep learning and know what going on in the industry. Don’t give up. Don’t learn something for the sake of $$. You will not sustain in the long run. This is just my personal experience, apologize for the long write. 
Wow! Really appreciate your detailed explanation for me! It really helps me think! Due to my age (30), sales and BD roles might be more feasible for me? besides a more technical role.
Thank you
I would say depend on your interest. For me, I had seen veteran BD plp also know technical despite their roles. Usually for Sales, they will have a group of Subject Matter Experts to help them but in my own opinion, it would be good to know some Tech stuff so as to understand the lingo the tech plp is talking about.