Getting job as an NLP engineer: Prerequisites
Your guide to landing a high paying career in natural language processing and AI
Gm all,
We have had hundreds of new subscribers on this substack for the last two weeks (thanks BT_Raptor for referring my substack). It is a good time to reflect on why I started writing this substack and what I want the readers to get from reading it.
When I started this substack 4 months ago, I wrote a simple one-sentence pitch behind it: “Learn natural language processing, get an NLP job, and build NLP SaaS“. The mission behind this substack stands true to date and will continue standing for the foreseable future.
Learning natural language processing is very fun because it keeps you at the edge of what is possible to attain with computer software today. As long as you keep applying the language technology in the daily life you will keep learning new concepts. So learning never stops! But simply reading technical articles, books, and blog posts without attaining any monetary benefits won’t keep you engaged with the material for long.
That’s why in the next series of blog posts, I want to focus on the first big attainable goal behind this substack: acquiring skills and finding the most efficient way to land an NLP engineer job. Yes, it might seem overwhelming at the beginning especially if you just started getting familiar with machine learning and natural language processing concepts. But the steps that are necessary to land an NLP engineer job should be taken in parallel with learning technical material, not after reading all the books and blog posts. I also believe that having an attainable end goal in mind and having a good idea of how to get there will make you much more engaged with the technical concepts of human language technology.
Why get an NLP engineer job? Simple: being good at natural language processing (and machine learning broadly) pays and most importantly pays well! The typical median compensation of AI researchers is 20-30% higher than the median compensation of software engineers with the same level of experience.
