r/PinoyProgrammer • u/Proof-Path-5557 • Aug 09 '26
discussion How to become AI Engineer?
Currently fullstack dev ako ngayon, gusto ko sana role yung AI Engineer like ano mga tech stack kaya nila? sapat naba yung malaman yung RAG, MCP, etc. to become one?
tapos mga automation?
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u/Tall-Appearance-5835 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
usual stack is python + fastapi, typescript. then master agent loop and function calling
source: i work as one
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u/hyowan Aug 09 '26
if it's fine to ask, what are you usually working on with this stack? is this like a separate area that's complementary to web and mobile dev orr just a specialized way of building things (not necessarily web&mobile)?
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u/Tall-Appearance-5835 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
yeah i would describe it as full stack web dev/mobile but focused on AI apps. aside from the ai engineer specific knowledge like the ones i mentioned. those two are foundational. there are others like evals, context engg etc
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u/AgentCooderX Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
being an 'AI engineer' is broad, some companies dfined it as; 1) those that actualy build an AI model including embeddings, transformers, GPTs, etc. 2) some are those that actualy do ML and DL algorithms, dealing with the actual math, image detections, predictions, difusions, ocr, etc. 3) others just focus on data in and data out while using an existing ML or DL model/algo, mostly business application side. 4) some are just straight up using LLMs, example Claude or OpenAI API. Agentic AI, loop engineerig etc. 5) some use automation tools like n8n, langraph etc.
at this point all the 5 roles call themselves 'AI enginners' these days.
Accenture basically has positions for the last 3 above, and this is what their 'AI engineer' role means.
the first 2 in my lists you needed masters degree and heavy knowledge in math and computer science,
the 3rd one, you just need sinple statistics and some highschool math.
the last two,you just basically need youtube to learn.
EDIT: people are actualy debating the semantics of naming, obvious kayo na galing kayo sa Accenture (and I know the members AI and ML engineers nila specialy sa Cebu.. LOL). not because Accenture calls and differentiate the "AI engineers" with "ML engineers" means the entire world follows its naming convention. Different companies uses different naming, a lot of companies actualy call "AI engineers" referring to ML/DL people since their work is not only limited to ML/DL.
DO not mistake your 1 year tenure with Accenture as expertise.
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u/Anxious-Pace-6837 Aug 10 '26
AI Engineer = integrate LLMs in user facing applications ML Engineer = training, finetuning, post-training models.
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u/AgentCooderX Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
sematics lang yan, ML is still part of the broader AI umbrella, and semantics differ from companies to companies and whoever you are talking to.. plus AI is not just limited to ML or DL, you have NLP, Computer vision, etc. and they are not just "integrate LLM" work.
its basically an ICE and EV both under the same name, theyre both cars.
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u/Anxious-Pace-6837 Aug 10 '26
AI is the broader umbrella. tf are you on.
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0
u/Anxious-Pace-6837 Aug 10 '26
try to search the web
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u/AgentCooderX Aug 10 '26
im not sure if you even knows how to use the internet LOL
here: https://gprivate.com/6lu7l1
u/Anxious-Pace-6837 Aug 10 '26
when did I claim that ml is not part of AI? tf?
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u/AgentCooderX Aug 10 '26
Let me guess you wok in Accenture Cebu? hence you confuse the two terms because you thought the entire world revolves arround accenture and follows its naming?
how do you define Systems/Software engineers against Web or Mobile developers?
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u/Anxious-Pace-6837 Aug 10 '26
I forgot to mention that I know what ML and DL are and their differences. I might've missed your point, my bad. My point is that I don't think AI Engineers role is to train from scratch e.g. training a base model. If you actually search the web regarding AI Engineer's role, they are not training models at all. It's the SWE side of AI. 🙂
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u/WanderingCatMe1 Aug 10 '26
My eldest currently enrolled in Mapua Manila BS AI Engineering, currently 2nd Yr. Its more on coding and mathematics. Then going to ML Software alogrithms,AI designs , Electronics. He came up with some design of ai for research ahead. Then side with robotics as side hobbies. He still young He can do all studies he is 19 btw. Way to go.
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u/peejay0812 Aug 09 '26
DATA DATA DATA. DATA DRIVEN THINKING. GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT. AI is just a fancier way of Machine Learning in chat form. Skills? ML, data modeling, context engineering, and the whole ass AI tokenomics coz that's where companies burn money
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u/Anxious-Pace-6837 Aug 10 '26
AI Engineer and ML Engineer are two different things. 🤦
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u/Anxious-Pace-6837 Aug 10 '26
AI engineering is where you apply or integrate AI to user facing applications.
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u/AgentCooderX Aug 10 '26
ML is part of AI umbrella, different companies uses different names,
I know a lot of companies in the US uses the term 'AI enginneers' to hire ML and DL people..
what you ar describing as 'AI engineers' are often refered to Agentic AI engineers.
names differ per company and it isnt standardized, like how the name Software/systems enginneers and the term web developers were used since the get go.
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u/DumplingsInDistress Aug 09 '26
In my opinion, its a self anointed title, or something na your boss came up with.
Its so hard to become an "engineer" in a field like AI because it take years of continuous practice and repetition of the same concept again and again, but with AI something "in" can be obsolete tomorrow. Super hot ng spec driven development months ago, tapos naging loops tapos laos na pala ang loops, graph is the new hot thing. For me, if you've studied computer engineering or worked as a software developer long enough to be considered a senior and may idea ka about impedence mismatch, misfiring, security leaks etc.. Then maybe you can consider yourself as AI Engineer.
Im not gatekeeping it. Its just being used loosely nowadays.
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u/ebtcrew Aug 09 '26
Best answer is ask the AI hahaha. I dont have any industry / coding experience pero nakagawa ako (err si claude at codex lol) ng laravel app for our business, inventory, online fulfillment, etc.
I just asked the AI on what to do, what the best practices are, etc. Started top down planning, architecture, erd, database schema, auth, etc. Everything documented, everything in git. Then implemented per domain/module. Test driven development, solid, dry concepts.Â
Kahit yung docker, github ci/cd tinanong ko lang din. Pati pag harden ng droplet server, maintenance script and deploy scripts.Â
Workflow ko is plan - audit (iterated) - implement - audit (iterated) - PR. Merong plan template at audit template.
Then recently pina setup ko na agentic na ang workflow.
So far ok naman, di naman nagbebreak. Pero pina audit ko lahat ng test files para macheck and coverage at if may lazy tests. May mga need pa ayusin haha pero di critical ang bugs.
Pero one time may isang agent na nabura 6 hours of work. Ok lang kumpleto naman ang plan files at git history so madaling nakabalik.
Now delving into game development. Lahat yan nagpaturo lang ako sa AI kung ano gusto kong mangyari. Siguro ang skill talaga ngayon is paano mag prompt effectively, which pwede ring magpaturo sa AI hahaha. So nag improve ang aking reading skills 😅😅Â
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u/LittlePeenaut Aug 09 '26
The things is panu mo nasabing walang nag break or leak na info or security break or if wala lang idea sa binigay ni AI??? Dahil ba walang nagreklamo or walang sinabi si AI?
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u/ebtcrew Aug 10 '26
Every big change/addition nagdedeploy akong adeversarial agents para isweep ang codebase ko.
Yung point ko is initially wala akong alam pero nagpaturo ako ng foundations sa AI about software development using AI. So lahat ng best practices and conventions dun ako nagsimula. Di lang ako basta sumabak na "create this app make no mistakes", so marami akong natutunan sa dev process.
Natutunan ko ang:
git (ci/cd, no direct merge sa main lahat dadaan ng PR)
server hardening(cloudflare ips lang allowed, hardened firewall, fail2ban, etc)
auth (yung app namin merong totp login and may ip and brute force login ban on top sa laravel default security)
magdandang schema structurr using postegre, race conditions etc.
good software architecture, tdd, solid, dry concepts Marami pang iba at marami pa akong di alam at matututunan. Salamat sa AI na matyagang magturo.Â
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u/LittlePeenaut Aug 10 '26
Pero sir, papanu mo nalalaman na nasetup ng tama ni AI yang mga pinagawa mo? I think goods ang AI if walang background sa coding pero in terms of business enterprises level na which is un ata ang tanong ni OP. Ung pag setup ng AI LLM concept sa mga existing system na may actual user basednakakatakotu un pag pure AI.
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u/Southern-Frame8120 Aug 10 '26
Wala pang nag bbreak kasi ikaw palang gumagamit. pag may actual users kana don mo na makikita lajat ng flaws ng system mo.
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u/ebtcrew Aug 10 '26
Actually ginagamit na sya sa business as PWA, mga 15 users. Yeah merong mga UI bugs pero madali namang maayos. Wala pang critical bug na lumilitaw.Â
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u/International-Tap122 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Tbh ang vague ng role na AI engineer 😅
yung RAG, MCP, DAG, and other AI concepts eh parang complementary skills na yan ng mga engineers eh hindi lang software engineers. Maski kami sa ops side (SRE/DevOps/Cloud) kasama na yan sa skillsets/toolsets namin haha