Transformation of the Week
Andrew White

Transcript

Lusk: Hey Andrew, thanks for joining me today. Congrats on winning the Transformation of The Week, tell me a little bit more about your background.

Andrew: Thanks so much, Chris. I’ve been working in software companies for the last couple of decades, and I’ve been working in a variety of roles from I.T. to DevOps to software engineer, and startup founder.

Lusk: So tell me a little bit more about what got you interested in Gen AI and what you’re doing today.

Andrew: I have somewhat of a unique background in my approach to Gen AI. I first started working at AI companies in 2016 and supported advanced AI chat bots, before OpenAI and ChatGPT even came onto the scene. In early 2023 I discovered ChatGPT and was blown away by the creativity and the power of generative AI applications. I’ve been up to my elbows in studying Gen AI applications ever since, and I’ve been working at an AI Center of Excellence, where I advise enterprise customers and small businesses on how they can use AI applications for their businesses to serving their customers.

Lusk: So you’ve taken multiple classes with us, you’ve taken the LLM Engineering course, and you just graduated from The AI Engineering Bootcamp, Cohort #05. Have you been able to put anything that you’ve learned into practice at work or on personal projects?

Andrew: I sure have, and it’s been a real honor and privilege to take about six months worth of courses at AI Makerspace. I’ve been a big fan of your YouTube channels since about 2022 or 2023, and I frequently, learn so much material from Dr. Greg and The Wiz, it’s, really mind blowing. And I’m frequently involved in engagements that deliver state of the art value to our customers. And I’m able to advise and deliver value to our customers directly from the things that I learned.

Lusk: So let’s talk a little bit more about how you manage the complexity of an ever changing AI landscape, specifically at the enterprise level.

Andrew: Specifically at the enterprise level, managing AI complexity brings a lot of risks, uncertainty, and costs that need to be carefully managed by organizations. And my approach involves relying on existing standards and principles that we can apply from software engineering, things like DevOps, things like platform engineering, the emerging field of AI ops, understanding what the strategic decisions are leading to delivering AI solutions is critical to project success. I constantly A/B test my customers, we evaluate customer response on a continual basis and use that feedback to design systems that give the results that our customers demand.

Lusk: So what are some words of wisdom that you have for people out there watching this who are considering a move into Gen AI?

Andrew: Really focus on the foundational fundamentals of computer science and artificial intelligence. You can identify leaders that you admire in the AI industry and replicate their work styles for the kinds of solutions and problems that you want to solve today.

Lusk: Andrew, congrats again on winning the Transformation of The Week, where can people connect with you or hire you as a consultant?

Andrew: They can connect with me on my website, AICareerPath.dev and sign up for a free mailing list where soon I’ll be announcing a AI Career Path book and you can join a discord server where you can meet additional people just like you.