Your next job in tech with a $175–335k salary: Who is a prompt engineer?

Annalooksup
3 min readFeb 27, 2023

As the field of AI continues to evolve rapidly, new professions are emerging to support the development and deployment of AI technologies. Here is a bright example — a viral job post with mid-level requirements yet an executive-level salary.
Wanna apply? The link is right at the bottom of this article. :) But first, let’s find out who the prompt engineer is.

Who Is Prompt Engineer anyway?

Prompt engineering is about making chatbots and virtual assistants talk to us in a way that feels natural. It’s like teaching them to understand and respond to what we’re saying. Prompt engineers (PE) create and improve the models that help them do this.

Prompt engineering is super important for conversational AI because it affects how well chatbots and virtual assistants can understand and respond to us. The result of a PE’s proper work is accurate and helpful responses as well as the whole experience which feels more natural and engaging.

Being a prompt engineer isn’t just about giving orders to the AI models. To do it well, you need to really understand the task or application you’re working on, and also the capabilities and limitations of the model you’re building. It’s important to be aware of any potential biases in the data you’re working with too.

And what skills are required for this role?

Let’s start with hard skills:
✅ obviously, you should be familiar with machine learning in general and more precisely in natural language processing & the architecture of large language models;
✅ it won’t hurt to have basic programming & QA skills

Soft skills:
Creativity is the key. You should enjoy problem-solving and be able to think outside the box like a creative hacker.
Communication is important too, and you should be able to explain technical ideas and create clear documentation.
Organized mindset, ability to build teams and identify an organization’s needs.
A passion for making technology safe and beneficial for society, being able to anticipate risks
Interest in the latest research and industry trends.

Not THAT much to ask for $200k+ per year, right?
Well, I mean, of course, it does not sound super simple either and requires some studying, but what makes this role stand out is that it is a relatively new field, which means there’s less competition for the job. Plus, the field is growing quickly and has a lot of potential, which makes it an exciting opportunity to consider.

Prompt Engineer role to become a “next big thing” in the jobs market?

Prompt engineers play a crucial role in NLP projects, responsible for designing and creating prompts for AI models, fine-tuning their performance, and analyzing data to improve them. They collaborate with data scientists and NLP researchers to ensure their prompts align with project goals. Their expertise spans across multiple disciplines, making them important contributors to NLP development.

It’s hard to say what the job market will look like in the next several years, but it seems that prompt engineers will continue to be in high demand. As natural language processing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence continue to advance and gain popularity across different industries, there will be a growing need for skilled professionals who can create effective prompts.

Happy learning! 🎓 Thanks for clapping 👏

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