How the AI Talent Race Is Reshaping the Tech Job Market (wsj.com) 29
Nearly one in four U.S. tech jobs posted in 2025 require AI skills, according to data from the University of Maryland's AI job tracker, as companies across sectors adapt to the technology.
Companies across healthcare, retail and utilities are increasingly seeking candidates who can integrate AI into existing roles rather than creating entirely new positions, with these skills commanding premium pay and greater job security.
The information sector leads with 36% of IT jobs in January seeking AI expertise, followed by finance and professional services firms. AI-related listings account for 1.3% of all job postings nationwide. New AI job postings surged 68% since ChatGPT's launch in late 2022 through end-2024, while tech postings overall fell 27% during the same period.
Companies across healthcare, retail and utilities are increasingly seeking candidates who can integrate AI into existing roles rather than creating entirely new positions, with these skills commanding premium pay and greater job security.
The information sector leads with 36% of IT jobs in January seeking AI expertise, followed by finance and professional services firms. AI-related listings account for 1.3% of all job postings nationwide. New AI job postings surged 68% since ChatGPT's launch in late 2022 through end-2024, while tech postings overall fell 27% during the same period.
AI skills (Score:5, Insightful)
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Technically I know how to use Torch. I probably ought to put that on my resume, even though I know it to be completely useless for anything I actually do.
Re:AI skills (Score:4, Funny)
I'm adding specialties like:
Search-and-Replace
Right-Clicking ANYTHING
Super good at finding 4-leaf clovers
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You joke, but that is a skill a lot of people don't have. Getting a result you want depends on precisely how you ask the question.
Re: AI skills (Score:3, Funny)
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Hmm, can you give me an example of a question asked badly and then one asked correctly? Because, to my way of thinking, the person that's being asked has to play a part in understanding - it's not all up to the asker.
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I've heard this before. "you're just not using it correctly" well it's fucking broken then.
Not to waste your time, but I think those of us who've been laughing ourselves silly at the ridiculous answers need a primer in "prompt engineering"
or "vibe programming" as it's becoming known. gag.
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Re:AI skills (Score:5, Informative)
>> What is an AI skill?
As the article explained, "a large retail company, for example, posted for a data science director who could use predictive algorithms to improve store layouts; a utilities provider looked for an analyst to assess wildfire risk with machine-learning methods; and a drugmaker sought out a programmer for its computational chemistry group". And "A firm might want a cybersecurity engineer who can use AI to more accurately and efficiently evaluate potential threats".
Re: AI skills (Score:2)
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It certainly does seem niche, and the only training materials would be to have worked at a place where you were allowed to learn how to use AI to do those things. The capabilities have only been in existence for about a year.
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Ability to phrase what you want into a sentence?
So . . . Jeopardy?
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What is an AI skill? Ability to phrase what you want into a sentence?
Probably being stupid enough to accept LLM answers at face value. To be fair, that seems to be a pretty common skill.
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There's a "security architect" who does just that. It's hilarious.
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What is an AI skill? Ability to phrase what you want into a sentence?
AI skill is similar to computer skill, i.e., the ability to use rather than develop computers and AI tools. And such skills can be very broad. Computer skills such as using powerpoint are much more common than programming. I imagine AI skills also have a very wide range and tend to be more common at the simple usage end, e.g., can you type something into the LLM and use what comes out.
I have an AI skill, too! (Score:2)
AI answer: "would you like fries with that?" (Score:1)
Y2K all over again (Score:4, Informative)
The rush is on, get it while it's hot!
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Or not.
I lived through that time period, when you could get a dot-com job if you knew the word "Java". Employers thought it was OK to ask for 80-hour work weeks, because, you know, there was a big pot of gold at the end of that dot-com rainbow. Most people who followed that pied piper got...nothing, or worse, lost everything.
If you want a life, maybe opt for more traditional jobs that require you to actually do things that require skills. Soon, companies will start to discover that AI can't do...everything.
IT with AI? (Score:4, Interesting)
The fastest growing religion (Score:4, Insightful)
My religion has grown 500% over the past decade (because my wife and I popped out a few kids and count them as part of our religion). It's easy to have impressive numbers when you start from zero.
But if you look at the other side of thenumbers in the summary, because I'm not giving clicks to AI clickbait... 64% of all employers in the tech sector don't want AI, and across the board 98.7% of employers don't want AI. Companies have had a few years now to think about it, and they just don't want it.
The next AI winter is coming fast.
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The next AI winter is coming fast.
Indeed. And not a moment too soon. These fuckers need to learn some honesty. Personally, I respect almost all CS research fields. Not the AI one. Respectable AI researchers use some camouflage like "cognitive systems" or "planning algorithms" or the like, because they are so embarrassed by the lying idiots in AI "research".
What "AI talent"? (Score:3)
AI-enabled bullshit artists?
It will pass (Score:2)
Just like networking, crypto, blockchain, all the rest, there will be peaks in demand for certain CV buzzwords as clueless middle managers try to get on board the latest hype train.
But basic CS skills will always be in demand, especially among the sort of bosses you actually want to work for.
Re: It will pass (Score:2)
+1. The youngsters will not like this advice, though.
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Yep, and the youngsters will learn the hard way, like a lot of us did when we were young.
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I like that you included networking in your list. Some of these buzzwords have real substance behind them, but generate hype anyway. AI is like that. It's real, but the hype way over-plays its hand.
As a person with years of database development under my belt, I'm finding that companies, and teams in my own company, have gotten stuck using ORMs to generate database schemas that make no sense at scale, and I end up untangling them. Like ORMs, AI can do some interesting things, but it too will leave behind a b
Latest buzzword after Agile and Blockchain (Score:2)
So "AI" is the latest buzzword to get past HR, after Agile and Blockchain a few years ago.
In a few years, it will be yet another buzzword. Just like fashion.