I’ve got a tale for you today, a story from the edge of the tech frontier. Meet Teodora Danilovic, an AI-prompt engineer. If you’re wondering, “What in the world is that?” — you’re not alone. The role is as futuristic as it sounds. Essentially, Danilovic’s job is to craft prompts for chatbots like ChatGPT, making sure users get the best responses to their inquiries.
Not Your Typical Tech Whiz
Here’s a shocker: to land this high-tech job, you don’t need a background in computer science. You heard me right. Danilovic, who jumped into this field right after graduating with a philosophy degree, is living proof. She’s harnessed her knowledge of logic and linguistics and has acquired a few technical skills on the job. But her background? Philosophy at King’s College London, with a focus on critical thinking and analytic questioning.
A Career in the Making
After her graduation, Danilovic found her way to AutogenAI, a company that built a language model companies use for bid and tender writing. She had previously worked at a cryptocurrency company, where she wrote legal documentation and recruited a data team. Her unique skill set caught the attention of AutogenAI’s chief executive, who was seeking philosophy graduates, leading her to a job that was seemingly made for her.
The Intricacies of Prompt Engineering
Being a prompt engineer isn’t just about playing with a fancy AI. It’s about finding the best inputs for the software, also known as “Genny,” to provide the best outputs. It could be expanding text, summarizing something to a specific word count, or even locating a crucial piece of evidence to support a claim in a bid.
The Art of Communication with AI
Danilovic’s philosophy background didn’t just come in handy; it was instrumental. She discovered that, when prompting a language model, you’re communicating with it, requiring a deep understanding of language — the nuances of tone, expression, and finding the right words to convey meaning. The prompts must be unambiguous, direct, and relevant. AI isn’t intuitive in the human sense, so clarity is key.
Learning on the Job
Despite her non-technical background, Danilovic has gained a good understanding of the underlying technology, even picking up some basic programming skills along the way. She’s learned how natural-language processing and machine learning work within AI, and how developers use these to build a language model. And the pay? Well, experienced prompt engineers in Silicon Valley are raking in up to $300,000 per year. While Danilovic isn’t quite there yet, she’s earning a respectable salary.
An Evolving Landscape
The world is changing, and with it, the job market. The rise of AI has sparked fears of job losses, but Danilovic sees it differently. She sees AI as a tool that helps clients tackle more exciting tasks by taking care of the mundane ones. Prompt engineering is just one of many new roles that have emerged from this ever-evolving landscape. It might be a role you never knew existed, and you might already have the skills for it.
