The use of AI has now been widely adopted across many industries and in the education world.
People have been asking if AI will eventually replace programmers, and the debate has gone back and forth. We have even seen CEOs for large tech companies like NVIDIA say “yes,” and then change their mind back to “no”. One thing is clear, the future is not.
Talking to current tech professionals brings up some very interesting conversations about the future of education and careers in the tech industry.
When my father was going to university, he got an electrical engineering degree because that was “the degree” to get. It was supposed to be the future career that would ensure no unemployment. By the time my father was halfway through his working years, computer science emerged as the next degree to get. My father faced unemployment for a period of time, before having to shift into a new career field to maintain employment till retirement.
Now we are facing the next shift.
Programming was the career everyone said would result in no unemployment, but now we are seeing a new reality. Tech companies across the world hired too many computer programmers as they expected to continue to scale. Over the past few years we are now seeing the results of mass tech layoffs.
In spite of those tech lay offs, we are seeing a new secure career field emerging – AI.
So does that mean everyone needs to start learning how to build AI? I would argue no. Although we don’t all need to know how to build AI, we must all know how to use AI.
What does it mean to be able to use AI? This is mastering prompt engineering.
While we haven’t seen this major emerge yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see prompt engineering emerge as an in demand major in the next 5 years.
Mastering prompt engineering could allow an employee to be able to create videos, edit videos, create digital art, write, develop software, and more through AI software. While there is still a large amount of room to grow in all these areas, and masters in each topic will still be able to lead the pack in their career field, smaller companies will likely look for these prompt engineering majors who can be a “jack of all trades.”
Small and emerging companies often utilize innovation to drive their companies success. This well rounded employee can help wear many hats in these emerging companies through the use of AI tools in a way that has not been possible before.
Whether prompt engineering becomes a new major or not, it is still a vital skill. We start educating students in prompt engineering in middle school. Set your students up for success today.
