Ever want to go into artificial intelligence without direction? Like negotiating a maze blindfolded, right? Alex Pollock famously said of the explosive artificial intelligence sector: “rolling thunderstorm of invention and opportunity.” Not an umbrella needed; but, a strategy? Yes. Even if you are merely riding in for the first ride, here is the nitty-gritty of his method for carving out a fantastic voyage in artificial intelligence.

First of all, resist the temptation from the sweeping terms. Though each job has its own weather system, “machine learning engineer” or “AI ethicist” seems as though they are born from the same coin. Alex notes with a wink that the way an artificial intelligence researcher approaches challenges and solutions defines their difference from a data engineer, not only in the days spent endlessly reading over code.

Education counts, but let formal degrees serve as only one guide. Based on LinkedIn’s 2023 Emerging Jobs report, AI specialist positions in the United States alone have increased eye-popping 74% yearly over the past four years. The ones landing the best gigs? Often it’s the ones who blend academia with unorthodox learning—think open-source contributions or Kaggle tournaments, hackathons, and in-house projects.

Networking should not be something you hide from. Alex fervues support for “serendipitous collisions.” Translation: have conversations with everyone. Unexpected paths can come from a conversation at a meet-up, a remark on a Substack article, or even a direct message on Twitter. Your next mentor might be a complete stranger at a conference coffee stand, just waiting for someone not fixed on their phone.

Let us discuss sincere interest now. AI runs quicker than family reunion talk and is unrelenting. Alex maintains a “tech graveyard” at home—a shelf devoted to deceased devices ranging from floppy disks to the first-generation Raspberry Pi—in a humorous gesture to show ongoing learning. Why is that? A sober reminder that what is cutting edge today could be laughably antiquated not too far off.