What AI Means for Tech Industry

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming an essential part of every industry — from improving operational processes and measuring employee experiences to strengthening customer service and bolstering cybersecurity.

While the full promise of AI is uncertain, its growing impact on the workplace cannot be ignored. Nowhere is this more evident than in the tech sector where IT professionals and companies are keen to understand how AI will transform jobs, careers and companies.

What Does AI Mean for the Tech Industry?

Agile Companies, Informed Employees

Companies that have embraced agile workflows and mindsets are primed to integrate AI. They are better prepared to accommodate the rapid change associated with AI, making it easier to quickly embrace and deploy new AI tools and solutions.

At the same time, tech workers will need to hold more organizational knowledge alongside strong AI skills. It will be critical to have a working understanding of the organization’s business so that AI technologies can be best applied to company products, services and practices.

New Kinds of Jobs

AI has sparked renewed interest in long-held IT skills while creating entirely new expertise that more companies need if they want to take advantage of the new AI world. There will be more demand for IT roles such as:

· Prompt engineers

· AI compliance specialists

· AI product managers

· AI data annotators

· Legal professionals specializing in AI regulation

· AI ethics advisors

· Content moderators to track potential disinformation in ChatGPT and similar generative AI bots

Soft Skills, Continuous Learning

As AI accelerates the pace of technology and decreases time-consuming administrative tasks, a worker’s soft skills are more valued. IT professionals who think critically, problem solve, communicate effectively and collaborate with others will have more value to a team and company. An individual’s time management and leadership skills will also be assets.

Companies will seek out workers who demonstrate a commitment to continually learning new AI-related skills and maintaining an awareness of emerging technologies. Natural language processing, deep learning, machine learning, predictive analytics and automation are just a few of the areas that ambitious IT professionals will stay updated on.

More Recruiting, More Training

It is not a shock that the demand for AI will outpace the existing skill sets of the tech market, so more companies will strategically mix recruiting new talent and training existing staff. Building talent from within provides an invaluable resource of both domain and organizational knowledge.

Smart companies will recruit IT workers with AI backgrounds who can train and mentor others in the organization. They will take the existing employees and place them in roles and projects so that the skills and knowledge needed for AI stay in-house.

Those employees can keep an eye on the ethical questions surrounding AI, providing human oversight and judgement to understand the quality and value of AI results.

AI is transforming IT careers, tech companies and entire industries. Much of the discussion around AI in the workplace has been about the jobs it could replace and ethical issues. This rapid and profound change can seem overwhelming, but professionals and companies that adapt and invest in will ride the AI wave.

Since 2010, SIGnature Recruiting has been pairing exceptional people with short-term contracts and long-term careers in Vancouver’s flourishing IT industry. We are specialists in IT Recruiting and pride ourselves in making valuable contributions to our clients and candidates. If you are seeking talent or an employer, let’s talk.