A few months ago, a new client, CEO of an oil and gas company, told me they wanted to build a data warehouse to power several AI initiatives. I couldn’t answer his questions. He was much more AI expert than me.
It made me realize that if I fail to articulate what AI can do for a customer, I will be replaced. I needed to get really familiar with this whole AI thing.
I originally signed up for an online course offered by MIT, but it was way too deep and complicated. My CEO then found a 12-week certification program called AI Business Strategy offered through Johns Hopkins University. He and I signed up, along with one of my sales colleagues. It cost about $3,000 per person and our company paid for it.
You had the choice of taking classes on Saturday or Sunday. These were two-hour live online classes taught by multiple teachers. Some were professors at Johns Hopkins and others were businessmen.
It started with a little history lesson. We learned the difference between generative and agentic AI and what LLMs are. Later, we covered topics such as responsible AI, generative AI for business, and AI project management.
There were also about four to six hours of homework each week. We had to watch a lot of videos, take quizzes, and complete three projects. The program has been designed to ensure that you apply what you have learned.
I’m 57, so I’m pretty old. There are many young people who could accept my work. This was the first time in 30 years that I needed to become familiar with something through formal training.
Some weeks were slow at work and I could cram everything into one afternoon. But there were other weeks where I felt like I was back in college because I had to pull an all-nighter. After everyone went to bed, I stayed up in my home office working on the course material.
I recently had a follow-up conversation with the CEO of the oil and gas industry. It happened very differently this time. It wasn’t him asking questions and me sitting there like a mannequin.
I was able to express interest in the implementation AI in your businesshow it should be done, the importance of having good data and how to obtain this data. The CEO decided to move forward and work with us on the data warehouse project.