“They’re going to come in, and they’re going to be all AI-native,” says Ali Ghodsi, Databrick’s chief executive. “We can’t for the life of us get the more senior people to adopt it.”
A generative-AI research scientist with as little as two years experience can make base salaries between $190,000 and $260,000 at Databricks, according to the company’s job-postings page. Including stock grants, the overall compensation can be much higher.
“We definitely have people, quite junior people, that have big impact, and they’re getting paid a lot,” says Ghodsi. “Under 25, you can be making a million.”
Even in the marketplace for people with AI experience, there is a bifurcation, says Jure Leskovec, a professor of computer science at Stanford University and co-founder of the startup Kumo.AI. He sees Ph.D. students in their early 20s produce effective research, leave their programs early and get snatched up by companies with large offers before they have any industry experience.
“The number of zeros is quite large,” he says.
Then there are those who are adept at using AI. They learn fast, think fast and are able to leverage the technology to be more effective. Though they don’t have the advanced degrees, the gap between them and conventional programmers is widening, he says.
“It’s almost like a next generation of a software engineer,” he adds.
Read more | WALL STREET JOURNAL