I am thinking about the same. There are actually 3 areas related to the LLM matter:
1 - The magic box itself.
2 - LLM Whispering
3 - Tools/Products/Infrustructure to support (a) RnD in (1); and (b) devops in (2).
I think for experienced backend (distributed, streaming, large data, ...) SWE type, option 3 is the optimal way to go. Option 2, becoming an LLM whisperer, is obviously the biggest job source but that space is guaranteed to be filled with phonies and charlatans. Option 3 is solidly in (LLM netural, really) software engineering.
1 - The magic box itself.
2 - LLM Whispering
3 - Tools/Products/Infrustructure to support (a) RnD in (1); and (b) devops in (2).
I think for experienced backend (distributed, streaming, large data, ...) SWE type, option 3 is the optimal way to go. Option 2, becoming an LLM whisperer, is obviously the biggest job source but that space is guaranteed to be filled with phonies and charlatans. Option 3 is solidly in (LLM netural, really) software engineering.