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Throughout 2024, the AI ​​industry will be very lively. This year, both well-known manufacturers and entrepreneurs starting from scratch have crowded into this track, fearing to miss this feast.

This year, the entire AI industry has undergone earth-shaking changes. Compared with 2023, AI has been rapidly applied to various industries, not only reshaping business processes to a certain extent, but also affecting global social, economic, and even political dynamics.

But unfortunately, despite the rapid development of AI, the shortage of talents is still an extremely serious problem that must be faced.

As one of the partners of an AI startup company, Lao Li has been worried about the "lack of people" this year. "The AI ​​market is buzzing every day, but in fact , there is no project that is not short of people.”

“You may see that every company is accelerating the progress of the project, but there is no one that can really deliver. Several, compared with foreign countries, are not even the slightest bit worse. "In Lao Li's view, many domestic AI projects are "false prosperity."

The reason for this situation is. A common question is, "There is a shortage of people. There are very few truly reliable technical talents. If there are good talents, they either have new ideas or they are replaced by big manufacturers." Or the leading technology companies have robbed it, and the startups are completely stuck. "Especially for startups, people who are not particularly familiar with core things really don't dare to use it," Lao Li said frankly. , he knows that this approach has also damaged the confidence of some talents to a certain extent, “but considering the development of the company, some We have to worry about it."

"It cannot be solved in the short term," Lao Li said bluntly to "Tingtongtech", "Everyone knows that it is a problem of supply and demand, but a truly professional one. Ethical AI technical talents cannot be cultivated in a short period of time.”

-01-“You can’t recruit the right people with an annual salary of one million”

“You can Think about it, 2024 is about to pass, are our projects still stuck for lack of people?”

Lao Li, born in the 1980s, was originally an investor and has been working hard in the technology field for the past many years. He has experienced the difficult situation of technology companies lacking talents, but he did not expect that it would be so difficult to find suitable talents in the AI ​​field.

Lao Li’s current company was established at the end of 2023. The partner originally worked for an AI company in Silicon Valley. This AI company already has a To C AI application in the United States, and the partner is the project leader. Man, he got the first pot of gold on this project. The reason why he returned to China was because the partners believed that there would be more opportunities to do overseas projects in China.

“He believes that the competition in Silicon Valley is too great and there will be more space in China.” Under the introduction of a friend, after many contacts with his partners, Lao Li decided to work with anotherThe partners established a company together. The company's project is still TO C, and the target market is still overseas.

“We are not short of money, nor are we short of projects, we are just short of people.” When I met with Lao Li several times, he would complain about the “lack of people” problem to “Handset Tech”, “Even if we are opening Even with an annual salary of one million, we couldn’t recruit core talents that matched our needs.”

“We made preliminary models for several projects and found investment, but the progress of the projects was not as expected,” said Lao Li. Very helpless.

“There is a shortage of people.” Lao Li said that the whole company is worried about the lack of people. “From top to bottom, there is a shortage of people, especially low-level engineers.

In fact, the company recruits There are many people, but very few are really suitable. According to the project plan, The company needs at least about 10 relevant AI technicians, but one year later, only 3 people remain.

“First, the resumes of the people they recruited looked good, but their practical skills were far from satisfactory; The truly useful talents were poached in the end. "Lao Li told "Handset Tech" that in the past year, he interviewed no less than a hundred people, but in the end not many were retained.

"Many applicants have beautifully written resumes and rich work experiences. , various training certificates. "But as soon as Lao Li talked, he realized that many people were "very inexperienced". "The vast majority of people have no practical experience. It is not an exaggeration to describe them as 'rhetoric'. ”

But Lao Li knew clearly that the requirements should not be too high. They left some relatively outstanding candidates on the spot. The initial idea was to "slowly train and adjust."

But the effect is not good, “It is not easy to cultivate a talent that can make the company feel completely at ease and let go. ”

“The AI ​​industry is very complex, updates too quickly, and training and running-in is a long process. "This has resulted in a very high turnover rate of technical personnel at Lao Li's company," exceeding 80%. "

The only ones who can stay now are that they are interested in Lao Li's project and the salary has met expectations. "More importantly, these people have very similar temperaments. ”

Lao Li thinks this is very important, “Companies in the early stages of entrepreneurship will inevitably encounter bumps and bruises in the process of project advancement. If there is no common understanding, everything will be in vain. ”

It is obvious that Lao Li is not the only one who suffers from the problem of lack of staff. In the past year, Sister Lin has also been extremely distressed by recruitment issues.

Sister Lin has a certain foundation in technology in a company. The company’s human resources department is mainly responsible for “overseas AI talent recruitment”

The company that Sister Lin works for is not a large company, but it already has a certain reputation in China. At the beginning of this year, the boss decided to do AI overseas business, so he started planning in full swing.

“It’s been almost a year. , out of the 30 people planned for the overseas office, only a few people were recruited. "Sister Lin was under a lot of pressure, "I managed to recruit one a while ago, and he left after less than a month and went to a well-known overseas company. ”

“Don’t think that it’s easy to do business overseas, and it’s even harder to recruit overseas talents. "Sister Lin sighed, "Overseas marketsThe market is greater than domestic competition, and mutual trust is more difficult to establish. ”

Even Wanxing Technology, an A-share listed company of AIGC software, is also facing the problem of talent shortage.

Wanxing Technology has invested heavily in the introduction of talents. According to the relevant person in charge of Wanxing Technology Shao, taking the 2025 school recruitment-related positions as an example, the annual salary for ordinary positions exceeds 300,000, and the annual salary for doctoral positions exceeds 50,000. In Changsha, Hunan, the salary is much higher than the local average, but the matching of talents is still difficult to keep up with the development of the project.

-02-“Trust is difficult to establish”

“This industry is very complicated, which also leads to Trust between people is extremely difficult to build. "Lao Li admitted that neither he nor his partners would easily hand over the company's core content to ordinary staff.

Excessive personnel turnover is the fundamental reason why Lao Li and his partners cannot easily trust people. “We have also taken a fancy to several talented people with good skills, but unfortunately, there are very few people who can really reach a consensus on starting a business. "

What is the reason for this situation? In Lao Li's view, this is not a difficult question to answer, "The industry is too complicated and the temptation is too great. ”

“It is common for companies to poach each other. "Lao Li's company has poached several good technical talents, and one of them impressed Lao Li deeply. "We looked for him several times from Microsoft and offered him good treatment before poaching him. But after working for less than half a year, he left and went to a leading technology company. ”

The reason is that “big companies have more space and opportunities.” Lao Li said that he didn’t even give them a chance to stay. He left a resignation message and left.

Marco is an algorithm engineer who has transferred from an AI start-up company to a large factory. He just graduated with a master's degree last year. On the recommendation of his mentor, Next, he joined an AI start-up company.

The founder of Ma Ge’s company was originally a middle-level manager of a large factory. After resigning from the big factory in 2023, he recruited several people from the big factory to start a business. As an AI application company, “They made a translation application and launched it in overseas markets, but the effect was not very good. "

The core personnel of the company are a few people brought out by the boss. Brother Ma calls himself the "lowest worker" and does the most basic work. He has no chance to come into contact with the core content." However, as a graduate, the salary is not bad. ”

After realizing that he was unlikely to be exposed to more things and that there was very little room for improvement, Ma Ge began to think about leaving. He told "Handset Tech" that later, he communicated with many colleagues I discovered that in most start-up companies, unless they are particularly outstanding, newcomers have little room for advancement. “In some start-up companies, since all aspects are starting from scratch, the handling of interpersonal relationships is more subtle. ”

In the end, Brother Ma took the initiative to apply for resumes from several big companies and successfully landed. “Although the treatment is not good,It's not much higher than the original company, but the big companies still have the opportunity to gain access to more things. If you are willing to learn and work hard, there is a lot of room for advancement. "

"Besides, entering a big factory and looking for a job in the future is equivalent to a layer of gold plating. "Brother Ma said with a smile that although everyone said they didn't care about big factories, in fact, the students around him first considered entering a big factory.

Chen Qiang also changed jobs in the middle of this year , he originally served as the team leader of a well-known domestic AI start-up company, and brought a few people with him, mainly responsible for technical maintenance.

Chen Qiang admitted that he had considered staying in his original company for a long time. After all, that was the company. A company that seems promising in the industry, “but its plans can’t keep up with the changes. ”

The rapid development of the domestic AI field has brought considerable pressure to Chen Qiang’s company. At the beginning of the year, the company’s originally leading business in the country was squeezed by the market and fell into a breakthrough dilemma. “The leaders lacked Market experience is overwhelming. ”

“In this case, it is obvious that there is a ceiling for the development of start-up companies. "Chen Qiang bluntly said that at this time, another company extended an olive branch to Chen Qiang. After many discussions with his family, Chen Qiang finally chose to change jobs.

Although he felt guilty, Chen Qiang did not think that There is something wrong, “The AI ​​industry is highly competitive and it is common for companies to poach each other. ”

-03-“It is impossible to solve it in the short term”

Lao Li understands Chen Qiang’s approach. In his opinion, everyone has It’s your own choice.

But when it comes to recruiting people, Lao Li is extremely helpless, “Everyone knows that this is a supply and demand problem, but unfortunately, this problem cannot be solved in the short term. ”

“Because there are very few real talents. "Lao Li bluntly said that the so-called AI talents currently on the market are very rare and can be directly used in corresponding positions.

The algorithm engineer of Lao Li's company is currently one of the most popular positions in the AI ​​market. First, it often happens that peers are competing for one. “Sometimes when peers chat with each other, they discover that several companies are looking for the same person. ”

Ma Ge and Chen Qiang also admitted that even now, they still receive invitations from headhunters. “Sometimes, they can receive several calls a week.” ”

Old Li’s concerns are obviously not unfounded. Relevant statistics show that it is estimated that by 2030, China’s demand for highly skilled talents will increase from the current 1 million to 6 million. The demand has increased by 6 times, and it is estimated that by 2030, domestic and foreign universities and the existing top talent pool will only be able to provide approximately With 2 million AI talents, the gap will reach 4 million.

More importantly, the siphon effect of talents has made most basic talents more concentrated, especially among major Internet companies and some leading technology companies. The "concentration place" of these talents

"Don't look at the fact that many young people now 'complain' about major Internet companies.and some leading technology companies, but when looking for a job, they will still give priority to these places. "In this regard, Lao Li was quite helpless, "Even if we offer the same benefits, we can't win over these companies. As a start-up company, it is obviously unrealistic to generally offer higher benefits than them. ”

But large companies also have the same problem.

Li Lin, who works for a leading semiconductor company, told "Handset Tech" that his project team has been recruiting people since last year. , the main positions are focused on AI algorithm engineers.

But Li Lin said frankly, “It is difficult to recruit. This industry is not based on a script, and fresh graduates are definitely not suitable. There are very few engineers with mature experience and reliable resumes. After all, AI is a job that requires professional ethics. Once improper personnel are used and malicious destruction of information occurs, the losses will be huge. In China, we also develop senior brothers with good backgrounds around us, or recruit some old friends who are familiar with the business and work on the same project. ”

For Sister Lin’s company that wants to go overseas, the plight of overseas talents in the AI ​​field is even more serious.

“On the one hand, compared with domestic companies going overseas, overseas local The company itself is extremely competitive; on the other hand, in this industry, more and more overseas students choose to return to their country to work. "Sister Lin told "Handset Tech" that although there are many reports in the market that many large overseas technology companies are laying off employees, in the field of AI, the demand for real talents far exceeds that in China.

" What is even more worrying is that the cultivation of AI talents is a long process. "Lao Li said frankly that it is difficult for a truly useful core AI talent to take on important responsibilities without 3-5 years of high-level training after graduation. "But unfortunately, today's so-called talents cannot be trained even if they come into contact with the market. to 2 years. ”

“This is obviously not a problem that can be solved in the short term. "Lao Li shook his head helplessly, "In the next few years, it will be humans who will choke the development of AI. ”

“Don’t be ridiculous, if you haven’t even solved human problems, how can AI develop? "In Lao Li's view, when talking about development and growth of AI, the most urgent thing is to solve the problem of talent training. "People are the biggest variable and are important to any company. ”