How to Start a Career in Generative AI - Beginner’s Roadmap

As the field of artificial intelligence is growing in its scope and capabilities in leaps and bounds, generative AI is emerging as one of its strongest and most capable domains. Generative AI is a domain of artificial intelligence that extends beyond problem-solving to generate unique content such as images, audios, videos, texts and so on. As the field is expanding and growing in its purview, the demand for formally trained generative AI engineers is soaring in the Indian and global economy.

Generative AI engineering as a profession allows a tech enthusiast to explore the world of AI and work in responsibly deploying well-trained AI models. This role is one of the most highly demanded and compensated ones in the technology ecosystem, and the huge demand-supply gap of professionals in this field makes its scope wider.

In this blog, we shall explore gen AI as a career path and look into its nature, industrial scope, educational pathway and so on.

Why Choose a Career in Generative AI?

Firstly, we shall consider the compelling reasons which make this career path worth considering. This is a suitable career for software engineers, tech Engineers, AI engineers, data architects and designers and so on. Given below are a few of the top reasons to consider a career in generative AI in India.

• Rapidly Expanding Sector: While AI itself is a rapidly expanding domain within the IT sector, generative AI is its fastest growing sector as more and more enterprises and technological firms are investing in developing models like GPT, stable diffusion etc.
• Demand-Supply Gap:  While the demand for professionally trained Gen AI engineers is quite high, there is a marked scarcity of formally trained talent in this domain, thus reducing the competition and enhancing the scope of opportunities available to you to explore.
• Lucrative Compensation: AI is one of the most fairly compensated careers in the software and IT sectors, and hence makes for a lucrative career option. Additionally, the scope for financial growth in this domain is also quite high, with hikes of up to 200% seen in some cases as well.
• Versatile Use Cases of Technology: Gen AI professionals are not only demanded within the IT sector, but also have the scope of exploring roles in industries like the BFSI sector, retail sector, ecommerce sector, fintech, healthcare and so on, as an increasing number of enterprises are today integrating AI services into their workflows.
• Global Scope of Career Opportunities: The relevance of generative AI skills are not only limited to India or a few nations, but rather demanded across the globe, making international job markets easily accessible to AI engineers in addition to options in India.

Explore the Role: Responsibilities of a Generative AI Engineer

The role of a Gen AI engineer revolves around the creation, fine tuning and responsible deployment of generative AI models by coding, training the model, prompt engineering it, testing and debugging it over time. The primary responsibility areas that a gen AI engineer performs are enlisted below for your reference.

Skill Set for Generative AI

The skill repertoire for a Gen AI engineer is quite nuanced and requires expertise in a number of technical, cognitive and behavioural areas. In this section, we shall guide you through the prime skill areas you need to develop if you are an aspirant for this role.

Technical Skills to Succeed as a Generative AI Engineer

Being a specialised technological role, there are some critical technical areas in which you must have expertise to excel as a Gen AI Engineer. Some of the core technical areas which you need to master to become a Gen AI engineer are elaborated upon below.

Key Skills	Specifications
Programming Skills	Proficiency in programming languages including those like C++, R and JavaScript for efficient model development.
Deep Learning Frameworks	Having working proficiency in TensorFlow, PyTorch, JAX etc. for the development and training of deep learning and neural networks.
Generative Model Architecture	Having knowledge and understanding of generative model architecture such as diffusion models, large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP) models etc.
Prompt Engineering	Being able to craft and optimise prompts for LLMs and generative tools to generate relevant results.
APIs & Integration	Being able to integrate various Gen AI models into frameworks and applications using APIs and RESTful services.

Soft Skills to Succeed as a Generative AI Engineer

There are a number of soft skills and cognitive areas which a generative AI engineer must have proficiency in. A few of these key areas are elaborated upon below for your reference.

Key Skills	Specifications
Problem-solving Skills	Being able to deliver effective and creative solutions that feasibly address anticipated and unforeseen challenges.
Analytical Aptitude	Breaking down complex or multilayered problems into manageable parts and developing solutions for them by thoroughly analysing the root causes and alternatives available
Effective Communication	Having effective communication skills to collaborate and coordinate with teams so as to ensure effective and high-quality outcomes in a seamless manner.
Ethical Sensitivity	Being mindful of aspects such as ethical information dissemination, bias-free, fair and inclusive model training and so on.
Attention to Detail	Having a meticulous approach to work, being attentive to minute details and errors to effectively deliver error-free and efficient results.

Career Analysis: Scope of Generative AI

While it is well-established that generative AI has an appealing scope and a demand-supply gap of talent, it is still worth considering the industrial scope of this career and take a look at the related domains that open up for a professional with this background. In this section, we walk you through the other career roles you can explore, the top recruiters of generative AI engineers as well as the career growth trajectory one can expect from this role.

Career Opportunities in Generative AI

Generative AI engineers get training in certain pertinent areas of machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing etc. Hence, a generative AI engineer can also explore various roles in the mentioned domains as engineers, data architects, product managers, consultants etc. Similar to the compensation standards of Gen AI, these fields also provide fair pay packages and benefits to professionals. Provided below is a table of the related job roles that a Gen AI engineer can explore along with current compensation figures.

Career Option	Average Salary (Per Annum)
AI/ML Engineer	INR 10 LPA
Generative AI Engineer	INR 10.25 LPA
AI Engineer	INR 10.11 LPA
Machine Learning Engineer	INR 9.28 LPA
NLP Engineer	INR 10 LPA
AI Product Manager	INR 25 LPA
Generative Design Engineer	INR 12.12 LPA
AI Consultant	INR 13.75 LPA
Digital Transformation Leader	INR 17.4 LPA
AI Solutions Architect	INR 38.5 LPA

There are a number of product and service-based organisations in the IT and technology industry wherein a gen AI engineer can explore jobs. A few of such top recruiters for this role are illustrated below.

Career Growth Trajectory of Generative AI

The growth trajectory that a professional can expect in generative AI engineering is quite lucrative. Starting off with moderately high pay packages in the range of INR 6 LPA to INR 8 LPA, it can grow over INR 30 LPA over the course of one’s career. The career trajectory for this role has been illustrated below as per the current and projected compensation standards in India.

Years of Experience in Gen AI	Approximate Compensation Offered
Freshers (0-1 Years)	INR 6.5 LPA
Early Career (1-4 Years)	INR 10 LPA
Mid-Career (5-9 Years)	INR 20 LPA
Late Career (10-19 Years)	INR 30+ LPA

Career Navigator: How to Become a Generative AI Engineer?

To practise as a generative AI engineer in India, you must possess formal education alongside a few critical skills and technical knowledge. To kickstart your career in generative AI engineering, you must possess at least a valid UG degree in a relevant specialisation (e.g. generative AI/ AI-ML/ NLP & LLM etc.). A few organisations also prefer to hire individuals with specialised PG education, although one can also venture into professional roles right after graduation.

Herein, we have outlined the roadmap to become a generative AI Engineer in India along with the relevant details.

A few of the relevant courses that you can pursue to become a generative AI Engineer are enlisted below. Courses at the UG, PG and executive levels are available in India to be taken up by students and professionals. These courses are also available in the fully online and fully remote mode, thus providing ample flexibility to the students to pick a course suited to their needs!

Course	Approximate Fee
Online BCA in Computer Science & IT	INR 1,35,000
B.Tech for Working Professionals in Generative AI	INR 3,72,000
Online B.Sc in Generative AI	INR 3,50,000
Online MCA in AI	INR 2,00,000
Online MCA in AI & ML	INR 2,00,000
Online MCA in NLP & LLM Development	INR 1,60,000
Online MS in ML & AI	INR 3,00,000 – INR 8,00,000
Online PG Certification in Generative AI	INR 1,50,000
Online PG Diploma in Generative AI	INR 10,000-INR 8,00,000
B.Tech in Computer Science Engineering	INR 6,00,000 to INR 10,00,000
Online B.Sc in Computer Science	INR 2,50,000
Online B.Sc in Information Technology	INR 2,50,000
Online MCA in Software Engineering	INR 2,50,000
M.Tech in Computer Science Engineering	INR 6,00,000
Online MCA in Computer Science & IT	INR 1,50,000
Online M.Sc in Computer Science	INR 2,00,000

Among the top eminent institutions of India which offer education in generative AI are IITs, BITS Pilani, IISc (Bangalore), ISB Hyderabad etc. Given the field is currently expanding and developing in India, there are numbered institutions which offer courses in this domain. However, an increasing number of institutions have started offering their courses in the offline and online mode to students now. A few of these institutions are illustrated below for reference.

Conclusion

Generative AI is a career in the IT sector that holds immense potential of changing the landscape of the digitally driven platforms. As a result, the need for responsible, ethically sensitive and well-trained Gen AI engineers is on the rise more than ever. Given this context, a number of individuals are turning to this domain to develop their careers early on, and grow it into a fairly compensated and impactful one in the future.