Building AI expertise: how we foster professional growth in our team

What’s your current role, and what does it entail?

Alexey: I work as a Delivery Manager. My role entails ensuring that project deliveries meet the customer’s expectations and fostering the development of ongoing relationships with clients.

Agustin: Currently, I’m a Senior Backend Developer and Technical Pre-Sales Agent. However, I don’t let specific roles limit the scope of my contributions. Supporting my coworkers and teammates is my foremost priority, and I do everything within my power to do so. Whether it’s tailoring proposals to our clients’ business needs during pre-sales processes, conducting investigations, making estimations, coordinating or leading R&D or proof-of-concept efforts, designing systems, or building them myself—if I can make a positive impact, I’ll hold nothing back.

Why did you decide to pursue the OCI Generative AI Professional Certification?

Agustin: When I was a child, I didn’t have internet during the summer. However, I did have a blank notebook, a pen, a calculator, and my imagination—the sky was the limit. I created what-if scenarios for the works of fiction I loved, inventing numerical systems to describe their superpowers in a way that felt coherent to the actual events in the series. I always found great joy in creating mathematical models, even if they were far from realistic.

Now, I have the opportunity to interact with and create real models to solve real problems, and I’m having a fantastic time doing it. The first time I saw a single perceptron model make predictions, I felt the same excitement as when I wrote my first line of code. That told me everything I needed to know—the road ahead is long and the ocean of knowledge is vast, but my curiosity has no bounds, and I love the learning process!

Alexey: I completely agree with my colleague. And I also believe that understanding how AI works can help identify how it can bring value to the client’s business. Moreover, this knowledge is beneficial during project estimation and execution, especially if the project is related to AI.

What makes this certification valuable?

Alexey: The course explains the Generative AI theory, implementation, and application areas. A major benefit of the course was the ability to execute real code on real infrastructure, which provides a more precise understanding of how things work when you want to implement AI. Right now, this knowledge is very helpful in pre-sales because it allows me to better understand generative AI application areas and provide customers with better proposals on how AI can help their business.

Agustin: I would like to add that certifications from highly esteemed organizations enhance our credibility. As professional problem solvers, our role is not only to design and build solutions but also to maintain a high level of professionalism to build trust with our clients. Formalizing our knowledge with certifications is one of the many tools we use to assure potential clients that they are in capable hands.

The syllabus in preparation for the exam was particularly valuable due to its immediate applicability. It presented a simple yet useful use case relevant to one of our biggest clients’ projects, as well as many other potential projects. For example, RAG chatbots are a powerful tool to enhance customer experience, and the certification has equipped me with the knowledge to effectively implement them.

How do you stay updated with the latest developments in AI and technology?

Agustin: The rapid pace of innovation has always been a hallmark of our industry, and it’s become even more pronounced with AI taking center stage in recent years. Keeping up can be challenging, but certain strategies remain effective. I follow influential people on professional social networks and learn to distinguish between fads and genuine innovation waves.

It’s not just about reading current events—it’s about continuously expanding your skill set and honing your craft. Don’t try to know everything but never stop learning. You don’t need to build your own prediction model right away; start with a short online course to understand the AI landscape and gradually progress to more complex courses that offer both theoretical and practical content.

Leverage the amazing tools at our disposal, like using large language models (LLMs) to genuinely enhance your learning rate, not just to appear knowledgeable. This is the best time for curious individuals to become exceptional.

Alexey: We also have an AI chat in the company that helps us stay updated. However, my current goal is to dive deeper into generative AI implementation rather than keeping up with the latest news.

Now that you’ve earned the certification, how do you see it enhancing your ability to improve project outcomes?

Alexey: This knowledge helps me understand AI applications, which allows me to find ways to implement AI in our projects. It can even be useful for daily tasks like summarizing notes and articles, paraphrasing emails, and more.

Agustin: Earning this certification opens up a range of possibilities while ensuring the privacy of our clients’ data. With the ability to build LLM-empowered products on our own infrastructure, we can add significant value to our clients’ internal business operations without the risk of exposing sensitive data to third-party LLMs. This makes internal tooling development more exciting and secure.

Additionally, the capability to fine-tune foundational models with data specifically tailored to our clients’ needs is both cost-effective and valuable. Customizing solutions to fit our clients’ unique requirements gives us a competitive edge in the market.