The Evolving Role of AI Engineers

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Hi everyone,

I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts based on your experience in the job market.

With the growing number of pre-trained models and the rise of technologies like Generative AI, fine-tuning, and RAG, it feels like working with AI has become significantly easier.

Given that, do you think the demand for AI Engineers with a strong foundation in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Math is decreasing? Has their role become limited to only very large companies?

I’m asking because I personally know someone working at a mid-sized company who took a basic 30-hour AI course, started using pre-built models, and has been achieving great results that genuinely benefited his company. They’re quite satisfied with his contributions.

Honestly, this makes me feel like the role of a deeply skilled MLE is becoming rare and mostly relevant only in top-tier companies. It also makes me feel, as I study and go deep into these topics, that I’m sometimes reinventing the wheel — especially when many tasks can now be done in minutes using off-the-shelf tools.

Is this really what the current landscape looks like?

I’d really appreciate an honest and realistic perspective — no sugarcoating.

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(personal opinion only - not career advice)

I think what’s new is not a decline in traditional machine learning jobs. That’s always been a difficult job to land. It’s always been the domain of companies that are rich in data and funding - or in academia.

Rather there is a huge increase in opportunities in the new area of applying Generative AI tools. These tools have applicability to a wide range of employers.

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