I have a background in software engineering but I would like to get into AI safety research.
A problem I have had is that I didn’t know whether I should pursue the research scientist or research engineer paths which seem to be quite different. Becoming a research engineer involves lots of work with ML code whereas to become a research engineer you usually have to get a PhD and do some research.
I read in an older document that there was a bottleneck in talent for research scientists and engineers. However, this seems to have changed according to your post and now there seems to be a greater shortage of research engineers than research scientists.
As a result, I am now leaning more in favor of becoming a research engineer. Another advantage is that the research engineer path seems to have a lower barrier to entry.
I have a background in software engineering but I would like to get into AI safety research.
A problem I have had is that I didn’t know whether I should pursue the research scientist or research engineer paths which seem to be quite different. Becoming a research engineer involves lots of work with ML code whereas to become a research engineer you usually have to get a PhD and do some research.
I read in an older document that there was a bottleneck in talent for research scientists and engineers. However, this seems to have changed according to your post and now there seems to be a greater shortage of research engineers than research scientists.
As a result, I am now leaning more in favor of becoming a research engineer. Another advantage is that the research engineer path seems to have a lower barrier to entry.