Taming the AI: All About the New Profession of Prompt Engineer

It's no surprise that new professions are emerging amidst this technological tsunami, and one of the most talked about today is the Prompt Engineer. Since Lectera's main mission is to keep you informed and up-to-date on relevant trends, we're here to tell you how to master this profession and what it entails. Spoiler alert: it's a great opportunity for those who love high technology but haven't yet found their niche to try something new (and very lucrative).

Prompt Engineer: What Do They Do and What Does Their Work Look Like?

In simple terms, a Prompt Engineer is a specialist who knows how to "talk" to artificial intelligence correctly. Their main task is to create effective prompts (from the English word "prompt" - a hint, request), that is, clear and understandable instructions for AI models, which will allow them to achieve the desired result.

Sounds simple, right? But in reality, this requires a range of skills and knowledge. Imagine a chef who needs to know exactly which ingredients and in what proportions to mix to get the perfect dish. A Prompt Engineer is the same chef, only instead of ingredients, they have words, which need to be formulated in a specific way and even in a certain order so that the AI understands precisely. This profession is similar to a translator from human to robot language and back.

Here are the tasks performed by a Prompt Engineer:

• Generating Texts: Need to write an article, a catchy slogan, a script for a video, or even a whole book? A Prompt Engineer creates prompts for language models (e.g., GPT-3, LaMDA) that allow for the creation of high-quality and original text. For example, a Prompt Engineer knows not to simply tell the AI "Write an article about the storming of the Bastille," but rather "Write a 10,000-character article about the storming of the Bastille in an artistic style, targeted towards aspiring historians, using quotes from historical figures, but without complex and lengthy sentences."

• Creating Images: Want to generate a unique image for your website, presentation, or advertising campaign? A Prompt Engineer creates prompts for image generation models as well (e.g., DALL-E 2, Midjourney). This is, admittedly, often more complex than working with text, as you have to work on one illustration in several stages and overcome the so-called "hallucinations" of the models, where, for example, instead of five fingers, the AI draws ten. The Prompt Engineer must also be very attentive to detail and ideally use examples, meaning they need to either find them first or have a good grasp of art. For example, instead of "Draw me a cat," an experienced Prompt Engineer would write: "Create a hyperrealistic photograph of a ginger cat with green eyes, sitting on a windowsill in an old window with a view of the Parisian Eiffel Tower in the style of a National Geographic photograph."

• Automating Business Processes: A Prompt Engineer helps companies automate routine tasks by developing individual lists of prompts that force the AI to process data quickly and efficiently, analyze information, answer customer questions instead of live managers (essentially creating chatbots based on AI), etc. Yes, all of this also falls within the competence of a Prompt Engineer.

• Helping to Educate, Adapt, and Consider Individual Features: This mainly concerns the field of education: a Prompt Engineer can generate not just content, but learning materials tailored to the unique needs of a particular student, and in video format, as some AI services already allow you to visualize the text and make it interactive.

Among other things, a Prompt Engineer may also be responsible for training AI, meaning you communicate with new neural networks and use this communication to teach them how to communicate with users, in what format and volume to write, etc. (since AI has its memory, plus built-in experience-based learning technology). Sometimes the task of a Prompt Engineer may be to identify hallucinations, that is, those very moments when the AI starts to lie, make up non-existent facts, "disobey" instructions, etc. The range of tasks depends on the AI you're working with and the goals of the particular company that hires the Prompt Engineer. As a rule, it's not limited to one AI; you need to be able to "speak" to many at once.

Here is an approximate list of AIs that may require a Prompt Engineer and what you will have to work with:

• Language Models (LLM - Large Language Models): This is perhaps the main tool in the arsenal of a Prompt Engineer. They allow you to generate texts, translate languages, answer questions, write code, and much more. These include, for example: GPT-3 and GPT-4, LaMDA, BLOOM.

• Image Generation Models: These neural networks allow you to create unique images from a text description. For example, DALL-E 2 and DALL-E, which create detailed and realistic images based on text prompts. Also popular are Midjourney or Stable Diffusion - an open neural network for image generation, providing great flexibility and control over the process.

• Text Analysis Models: These neural networks allow you to analyze text, identify keywords, determine tonality, classify content, and much more. These include BERT (a powerful model for text analysis, widely used in NLP) and RoBERTa (its improved version).

Important! New AIs are appearing constantly, so it's important to keep up with the news and master new neural networks in a timely manner, as they may turn out to be a "gold mine."

Skills and Education of a Prompt Engineer: What You Need to Know and Where to Study

As you may have noticed, a Prompt Engineer is a broad specialist who needs a range of skills, both technical and humanistic.

• Understanding the Principles of AI: How various AI models work (language models, image generation models, machine learning models, etc.), their strengths and weaknesses, limitations, taboos, etc. You need to know all this perfectly for each AI.

• Analytical and Critical Thinking Skills: When AI seems not to hear you and doesn't want to give the desired result - this is a standard situation. The Prompt Engineer will have to experiment and find different ways to achieve the task set by management or the project.

• Creativity and Imagination: Creating effective prompts is also a creative process that requires the ability to find non-standard solutions.

• Knowledge of Programming Languages (At Least a Basic Level): Although programming is not the main task of a Prompt Engineer, knowing at least Python can be useful for automating processes and working with the AI ​​model APIs. Everything, again, depends on the company you work for.

• Editing and Copywriting Skills, as well as Knowledge of English: To generate high-quality text content, you need to have a good command of the language and grammar, and ideally English, as most AIs ​​understand English best (as they were created in it).

• Fact-Checking Skills and Knowledge of Ethics: A Prompt Engineer must track and be able to avoid creating prompts that may lead to the appearance of discriminatory or misinformation materials, as well as check such materials in time. For example, it's important to make sure that the AI ​​has found reliable information, and what is written is not another of its "hallucinations."

Unfortunately, there are currently no official training programs for Prompt Engineers. This profession is still in the formation stage and is not yet so widespread and universally necessary to be taught at the state level. For this reason, most specialists master it on their own, often through trial and error, that is, independently using AI. But, of course, it will be helpful if you have an education in such areas as:

• IT: As already mentioned, knowledge of programming languages ​​will be a plus, it will also give you an understanding of the basic principles of AI and machine learning, and it will be easier to control the process of communication with the neural network.

• Linguistics: Knowledge of linguistics will help you better understand the structure of the language and create more effective prompts for language models.

• Marketing and Communications: As a rule, Prompt Engineers are in demand today precisely in this area, that is, when a business needs to save on third-party specialists and is ready to hire one who, in turn, will turn AI into a whole team: both SMM, and analytics, and an artist, etc. Consequently, education in the field of marketing will simply allow you to better understand the needs of the business and the characteristics of various target audiences.

To learn directly how to handle AI and compose prompts, you can use:

• Online courses (e.g., Udemy) offer courses in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and working with specific AI platforms.

• Specialized resources. OpenAI, Google AI Platform, and other companies developing AI models offer documentation, tutorials, guides, and examples of how to use their products.

• Communities and forums. Join online communities and forums dedicated to AI and Prompt Engineering, interact with other specialists, share experiences, and follow trends. On such forums, you can even find sections with already working prompts written by someone, on the basis of which you can build your own.

In fact, everything is simple: practice, practice, and more practice! The best way to learn Prompt Engineering is to start using AI for your own needs and interests. Once you learn how to get what you want from AI yourself, you can start offering your help to other people and even large companies.

How Much Do Prompt Engineers Earn in the US and Europe?

This is the most interesting question that concerns many who are considering this profession. Unfortunately, there is currently no exact data on the salaries of Prompt Engineers, as this profession appeared literally at the turn of 2024-2025 and has not yet managed to "generate" enough data for this. But you can focus on job boards, where a similar profession is most often called "AI Prompt Engineer", "Conversational AI Specialist" and "AI Content Creator"). For them, salaries ranging from 100,000per year to 300,000 are offered. In Europe, these figures are slightly lower: from €70,000 to €200,000 per year.

It's important to understand that these figures are approximate and may vary depending on your experience, skills, company, and region. Also, don't forget that Prompt Engineering can be project-based or freelance, that is, when you "serve" several companies in parallel at once or work on promoting or creating a specific product. In this case, they will pay a one-time fee for the project or task, depending on their complexity. Also, salaries will definitely be higher in international and large companies, although it will be difficult to get there. For example, Netflix posted an announcement with a search for a "Prompt Engineer" with a salary of up to $900,000 per year. However, the job description included requirements such as advanced knowledge in machine learning and experience with large language models (LLM).

Prompt Engineering is a promising and rapidly developing profession that offers excellent opportunities for those who want to be at the forefront of technological progress. Despite the risks associated with the novelty of this profession and the inability to predict its current demand, the potential of the industry is still enormous, and, given the pace of AI development, the demand for qualified Prompt Engineers should only grow. If you're ready to learn, experiment, and create something new, then this profession may be the perfect choice for you! So, go for it! The world of AI is waiting for its heroes!