If you are interested in future-proofing your career in technology and engineering, one of the best places to start your career would be either an artificial intelligence engineer or a data scientist. Both of these career choices offer a lot of future potentials, and the high barrier for entry helps only the best and most qualified students be eligible for the top positions in these industries. With an expected growth of 40% annually, you may think that the AI and Data industry is slow, but in the next 6-7 years, the total industry valuation will be close to 400 billion dollars. So, by that metric, you can get a slight idea of the future potential of this industry.

The growing demand for professionals in both of these industries is growing more and more rapidly as these industries are being integrated into more and more businesses of every different niche. However, AI engineers and data scientists may work hand in hand, but their paths of education and career prospects are quite different. Let’s delve more into the differences between these two career paths so you can choose which career suits you best.

The Difference Between AI Engineers & Data Scientists

The difference between AI engineers and data scientists is present on various levels. The skills required for entry to the industry, the job roles of the professionals, the expected pay scale, and the future prospects all differ from one another. However, in the workplace, professionals in these two fields work hand in hand to develop new AI solutions for businesses that are driven by data.

Eligibility Requirements

The eligibility requirements for both industries are different from each other. The role of an AI engineer is a technical role that requires engineering education and technical proficiency, and the role of a data scientist requires more pure mathematics and statistical skills with not too much focus on technical skills such as coding and programming. So, let’s look at the varying eligibility requirements of these industries.

Artificial Intelligence Engineer

• Expertise in programming languages such as Python and R

• Engineering knowledge with a strong base in mathematics and algorithms

• Working knowledge of Linux-based systems and Linux/Unix commands

• Ability to comprehend and use distributed computing

Data Scientist

• Expertise in pure mathematics and statistics

• Working knowledge of coding in Python and R

• Familiarity with job-related technologies such as Hadoop, Pig, and Spark

• Use of data visualization tools such as Qlik view and Tableau

Job Roles & Responsibilities

The roles and responsibilities of AI engineers and data scientists vary because the necessary skills to get placed in these industries vary. Let’s look at these two job profiles' different roles and responsibilities.

Data Scientist

• Collect large amounts of relevant data that relates to any particular business problem

• Transform that data into information and clean the data before the analysis

• Use job-specific technical processes such as data mining to create new relevant data that will help solve business problems.

• Using machine learning algorithms to create solutions for the problem at hand.

Artificial Intelligence Engineer

• Understand the problem at hand and develop and deploy automated AI solutions to fix the required problems

• Creating/developing programs that can work with large datasets without any problems

• Create deploy-ready versions of your software solutions that are efficient

• Rigorously test the models with all the possible variables to ensure the program is stable and free from bugs and glitches and that it does not corrupt the data in any way.

Pay scale

The pay scale varies for these two job roles mainly because one of the job roles is a technical job role, and the other is a non-technical job role. Let’s look at these two job roles' varying average pay scales.

Data Scientist

Today's average salary of a data scientist ranges between 8-10 lakh rupees per annum. The candidate's seniority and experience level can fetch more as the offers can go up to 30 lakhs per annum.

Artificial Intelligence Engineer

The average salary of an AI engineer today is around 15 lakhs per annum, which goes up as much as 50 lakhs per annum based on the candidate's qualifications, experience, and placement company.

Final Thoughts

A career in data science or as an AI engineer is gratifying. It promises a very prosperous future for you if you manage to be a top contender in the industry. Proper education is the key to reaching the heights of success in these industries, so you must get the best education possible. If you are an AI and data aspirant and searching for places to start your career, feel free to check out JIETDAT. It is one of the top technical colleges in Rajasthan that offers dedicated AI and data science B.Tech courses that can help you get the best platform and guidance for your career in AI and data science.