The Rise of Unrealistic Job Requirements in Generative AI

In a surprising twist of events, I stumbled upon a job posting that perfectly encapsulates the perplexities of our modern job market. The position? A “Data Scientist – Generative AI” based in Chennai. The requirements? A staggering 15 to 20 years of experience in a field that has only come to prominence in the last few years, particularly focusing on Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI technologies.

To provide some context, tools like ChatGPT made their debut in late 2022, and the earliest iterations of modern LLMs have only been around for a maximum of five years. If we were to trace the lineage back to the first transformer models from 2017, we’d still only clock in at eight years. Yet, the job listing asks for a candidate to possess years of experience that far exceeds the age of the field itself.

Adding to the absurdity, this posting also demands “proven professional experience as an LLM Architect,” a role that has only recently emerged in the tech landscape. One has to wonder: is the company expecting applicants to have time-travel capabilities from a future where they’ve acquired such extensive experience?

While it’s completely reasonable for employers to seek seasoned candidates, setting such unrealistic prerequisites raises serious questions. Are companies simply out of touch with the rapid pace of advancements in technology? Or is this an indication of an urgent demand for talent that leads them to craft overly ambitious criteria?

This scenario prompts many of us to reflect on our own experiences with job postings that seem equally unrealistic. Have you come across such examples in your job search? What impact do you think these inflated expectations have on both candidates and employers? Let’s open the floor to a discussion on the evolving landscape of job requirements in emerging tech fields!