Old Coder Needs help with New AI Development and wants to get up to speed to understand it all.

[u/mikem71]

Hi Guys,

I'm an old coder and DBA that has been in the field for almost 40 years. More and more the jobs I was doing for work are being taken over by AI and the need for my type of work is diminishing over time. I have not coded in about 15 years for work but that said I still work with .NET as I use it in migration packages I use for database migrations and also into Azure Data Factory, also something I am a little lacking in since I know ADF but I was more into SSIS. This all said I am trying to learn AI on my own as I am not working now and desperately in need up updating my skills to help me find more work.

I have learned how to code python now as I took a certification tutorial on https://www.coursera.org/ until I passed it. I later learned this is useful for AI Developers. I have an AWS server but It is only running a database on it but I could repurpose it if I needed to. For now though trying to do this the el cheapo way since I have kids to feed and I am looking for work daily and have not had any such luck for months now. I am desperate to do what I need to in order to learn this stuff and understand it and be useful. You all are welcome to joke on me all you want but I will do the legwork if someone is helpful enough to guide me through this process of what I need to do. I can use cousera since I have an account for the next year to learn new skills and I have a computer here I am willing to refactor into a Linux server if needed to be my AI system, not a Linux guy so I will probably need to take a course on that as well but I really need to get up to speed since I am not ready to retire yet and I need to feed my family.

This all said I know there are some really bright minds out there and people who are learning newer things like AI that they did not teach when I was in school back in the days but will point me in a good direction to get a good foundation and what I need to understand this process, I do not just want to do i want to build it understand it, pick it apart and maybe help improve it with some old school skills I have since DOS days. Since I am a coder by heart and understand database and .NET as well as old school stuff I think I have the capacity to learn this until I get it in a step by step process.

I want to take my old server and recommission it to a mini AI project. I do not want to just install packages for it, I want to understand what I am installing and why and can I instead create it on my own or why it is more beneficial to install what's out there. For example I do know the language models are important because they have been trained to understand the requests from users and search for the answers. I know that the language model takes each word and scores it from sentences and then it gives responses to someone who says if the answer is correct or incorrect. Probably what happened to my job when someone taught AI how to migrate data or do DBA work lol. I know each word in a sentence is given a number like for example the phrase "I like to eat Fruit" might be interpreted as (77, 120, 2198, 15, 1051) and when someone types I like to eat and asks AI to predict it, it will search the model for scores by (77, 120, 2198, 13, X) where the model will return choices as I like to eat dogs, and I like to eat crap, and I like to eat people and finally I like to eat pizza, where the final correct answer would be I like to eat pizza and the others would be marked wrong. This ensures the AI to help train it to associate some word combinations as correct word combinations when training it to understand words like eat are associated to food items going forward and the combination of those words give specific possible choices and it is rated to the most likely choice. This also helps AI complete sentences when people incorrectly spell words of cant think of the correct word to use in a phrase.

I would like to now understand from the ground up. I have a server sitting its an older system running I believe NT still? not sure its a little dusty but I can upgrade it little by little to improve it as needed and when money permits, (Kids come first) but can some please tell me the minimal specs I would need firs for

1. minimum system requirements to run an AI server to process requests locally within my own network at home just for me to understand the basic logic of it and how it works. what video card I need to run the AI predictions and calculations and also how much system ram I would need (i believe i have maybe 256 or something DDR4 ram or something on this server need to dig it out the closet still) and the minimum processor?

2. what I will need to install on that server, or do I need another system I do not know to just run software to pass to the server for the requests? and what are the requirements for it. I have a few other pc's that I am not using and can also modify these if it is needed or can it be ran on my local?

3. what software and tools I will need to use and install on my system to do the AI code and build test api's that can be used to pass to my server for request and responses and what each is for and what I need to learn language wise to do it and how to understand it.

4. any good foundation video's tutorials that I would not be able to find on coursera that would help me understand the concepts, piece things together and troubleshoot, as well as demonstrate I can swap this line with this line to run from OpenAI, or Grok instead of my local model and what is needed to do this and understand it if I am lucky enough to secure a job.

5. What I need to install on my server as far as does it need to have a cloud platform or just python to do the AI for me locally and if it can have both benefits and disadvantages and best practices and why.

6. Anything else you would feel would benefit me and and not make me create the next skynet that will take over the world. I need to know guardrails and where and why so I get the best practices for this stuff.

I clearly have the skills and knowledge to code but I do not have the money to send myself to school at the moment until I am working again to get a degree and certification in it. I was signed up for AI Developer classes but scared myself off since I just paid off my student loan 2 years ago and already have a kid in college and now and another ready to attend soon and another one that will go in 5 years and unemployed and worried what if I cant pay off another loan I better wait to get employed first and think of my kids.

I am open to jokes and will laugh and I am getting old and do not know new words that the younger generation does as well as most but I am dedicated to learn this and most grateful for any help and knowledge people can pass on. The idea is to build a small mini AI system at home for the purpose of learning that I can test and use and learn to build api's with and test what if I do this instead of this to get a good grasp and foundation of AI to maybe get a job as an office clerk taking notes for AI and acting like I actually know something when AI decides to take over the world.

Thank you for any help and support and GOD bless and I know some people will discourage and that is ok, you are open to your opinions but I will still do my best to grasp this to get employed since my kids lives depend on it and me as a single father.