I feel so lucky in my choice of career

Peng Bowen, 25, will join an AI company after leaving college later this year.

I am studying for a master's in communication technology, and will leave the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in the summer.

However, my field of research at university has little to do with my future work in the artificial intelligence sector as an algorithm engineer with Pony.ai, a startup in Beijing that makes self-driving cars.

I am very interested in machine-learning algorithms, which is a relatively new subject that uses logic to solve problems. I have learned a lot by studying on my own and through actual practice in university.

This year, the employment situation in the AI sector has improved rapidly because the number of startups has grown in response to rising market demand.

Between September and December, I applied to five companies, and received job offers from three leading players, including Google.

I didn't send out many resumes, because I already had a job offer before the campus recruitment season in September. In June, I worked as an intern in the AI lab of Toutiao.com, a news aggregator, which also offered me a job.

However, I chose Pony.ai because I am keen to contribute to the development of self-driving cars, even though the startup might be a little risky compared with those "grownup" companies.

Pony.ai offers a pretax annual salary of about 400,000 yuan ($63,500), a little higher than average, and the company has promised to provide a personal mentor for every new employee.

I believe that I am competitive in terms of self-study and problem solving, which is what employers value most.

When I was a junior student, I took part in the Asian edition of the International Collegiate Programming Contest, organized by the Association for Computing Machinery, and won a gold medal.

About 200 teams participated in the contest in Asia, and the top 15 received gold medals. The prize is widely recognized as an indicator of talent, and some companies even mention it in their job requirements.

My internship with Toutiao.com was good for my resume, but the experience taught me that I still have a lot to learn because my major is not related to AI. I am satisfied with my future job, and I feel so lucky because something I enjoy doing is being recognized by society. I will use the coming six months on campus to learn more and improve myself. The more I learn, the more I will be able to do after graduation.

Peng Bowen spoke with Zhang Yi.