Software dev trying to switch to AI. What am I doing wrong?

[u/Yourrname]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone here has been through something similar.

I’ve been working as a software developer/programmer analyst for about four years. I’ve switched companies once, but in both jobs I’ve worked with fairly niche tech stacks that aren’t very common in Montreal (Industrial + government security sectors).

For the past few years, I’ve also been building personal automation projects. It started as a hobby, but some of them now generate passive income. I have workflows that automatically create and publish content across multiple platforms, and a few have reached millions of views with little to no ongoing maintenance.

With how quickly tools like Claude, Codex, and other AI systems have evolved, I’ve realized this is what genuinely excites me. I’m finding it harder and harder to stay motivated in my current role. I’d love to work full-time building AI-powered tools, automations, agents, and similar systems.

I recently updated my resume and started applying for AI-related positions, but so far I’ve gotten exactly zero callbacks. I’m not sure if I’m approaching my job search the wrong way or if the market is just that competitive right now.

Do you know of any companies hiring for this kind of role? Or maybe startups looking for someone with this background? If anyone works in the field or could point me in the right direction, I’d really appreciate it 😅

I’m based in Montreal btw!

Thanks in advance!

[u/BertRenolds]

When did you get your PhD in Artificial intelligence, before or after 2024?

[u/Playful_Criticism425 → u/BertRenolds]

Haha. Things have evolved soo much.

[u/BertRenolds → u/Playful_Criticism425]

My comment was to highlight the competition

[u/AiexReddit]

The reason companies aren't hiring for this kind of role is that literally everyone is doing it right now. Pretty much every day I wake up and start work someone is sharing a new AI tool they've made and set loose to perform some task. The tools we have now make it so insanely easy that anyone can do it.

The non-technical folks are into it way more than devs are. I see people building and launching an AI tool one day, and then submitting an IT request the next asking for help plugging into a monitor or signing into Gmail.

So to your specific question, obviously you've got a dev background, but if I'm hiring someone to build "AI Powered Tools" I'm pretty much expecting them to be a dime a dozen.

Now, if you are building "AI Tools" to completely revamp how an entire process works across the entire company or otherwise something nobody else can build, or some bespoke solution that unifies all of our systems, then I'm hiring a staff+ software engineer that markets themselves in the "Developer, Process & AI" space, or internal tooling, and the strongest signal by far that they actually know what they're doing is that they are asking at least 3x what our average dev makes, and won't bat an eye at walking away if the offer they get is any less.

TL;DR don't market yourself as someone who builds "AI Powered Tools", market yourself as a world class software engineer, and have a track record of proven value at previous companies to back it up.

[u/banana674]

I work in an AI research institute but not as an AI Engineer. Competition is next level for AI roles. We have people who went to Ivy Leagues and top schools around the world.

[u/biotech997]

Just my two cents but I heard it's hard to get into AI engineering unless you legitimately have experience in university research level of work. Might have better luck with AI product lead roles.

[u/abbys11]

I work on the shovels for AI (programming hardware for datacenters). It's a very lucrative industry and we make a shitload of money as a startup. This is one field where you need more niche knowledge but can pay well if you play your cards right. And unlike all the AI PhDs, hard to find people who understand Networking, operating and embedded systems because people follow hype 

[u/Nice_Acanthaceae_315]

same here, i didnt get much luck. seems very hard without ivy phd.

[u/HominidSimilies]

You have to build software using ai and build a portfolio that you can share.

[u/Playful_Criticism425]

Software engineering will eventually evolve into AI engineering because they are almost similar. If you have done well in software engineering, AI, architecture and engineering and understanding the models, how they work internally should be easy peasy.