Your Complete Guide to Artificial Intelligence Associate Degree and Undergraduate Certificate Programs

What Sort of Jobs Will You Be Qualified for With an AI Associate Degree or Undergraduate Certificate?

Certificates and AAS degrees alone still aren’t enough to really get into any job in AI engineering that exists today. Instead, they are a good way to establish enough of a foothold to start working confidently with common AI tools in entry-level office jobs, marketing, or in creative roles in writing and graphic design. They are also a good way to reorient your education to prepare you for further studies.

That typically means setting your sights on eventually earning a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in AI. They are also useful preparation for graduate certificates in AI or ML, which, with the right bachelor’s program behind you, can get you into hot AI jobs across industries.

One of the main benefits of an entry-level AI degree is in improving the general professional skills that employers value. And the cool thing is that the AI part of your associate degree isn’t the only thing that has value. Your general studies coursework will boost the communication and problem-solving skills that employers crave in all kinds of positions.

A Basic Curriculum Gives You Grounding to Climb Higher After an AI Undergraduate Certificate or Associate Degree Program

Let’s be honest: no one is going to mistake you for a hot-shot AI research scientist after a year or two of undergraduate studies. But these options are a solid first step on a long climb to the expertise in programming, algorithm development, and training processes required to build AI today.

If you don’t take the first step in education, you can’t take any of the others, either.

But it’s an essential step to climb. No matter where you are heading in the world of AI engineering, these are basic skills and knowledge you must master. Both certificates and associate programs give you the option of doing so in a short, bite-size chunk. There’s less commitment and lower costs than any other kind of AI education.

The substance of that training is truly ground-level stuff, however. And certificates and associate programs both go about walking you through it in different ways.

What Will You Learn in an AI Undergraduate Certificate Program?

Undergraduate certificates are very focused programs, with only a handful of courses. They are designed to either introduce or add to actual degree programs. So you can’t expect to get the full range of education that a full degree will offer.

They are also often aimed at very specific types of AI education, in narrow areas that may benefit from more in-depth study. So you can expect very different coursework between a Short-Term Certificate in Artificial Intelligence/Autonomous Systems designed for aviation technicians and a Certificate of Completion in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning that goes into statistics and algorithms for natural language processing and computer vision.

While sometimes you can see right from the title where a certificate program is aimed, other times you must dig into the coursework it offers to see the angle. For example, a Certificate in Artificial Intelligence might describe any kind of program. But if it’s offered by an electrical engineering department, it may be specifically designed to build on the knowledge and education of bachelor’s in engineering graduates. Diving into the engineering uses of AI is important and valuable, but it may not be what you are looking for, so check the classes first!

There are also more general Artificial Intelligence Certificate programs that are intended to give you a broader perspective on AI. These deliver a big picture overview of AI engineering today. They can take someone with a bachelor’s degree in computer science or engineering and fine tune the knowledge and skills to put them on track toward AI programming and development instead.

What Will You Learn in an AI Associate Degree Program?

Associate degrees are much broader than certificates. That’s exactly what you would expect with a whole extra year or so to work with.

But it’s also a philosophical difference. An associate degree is intended to make you a more well-rounded professional in every respect. So they will include a range of liberal arts classes in areas like social studies, English, general math, and art. Together with your technical training, these can offer new perspectives and a better set of skills in communication and reasoning to apply to your job.

AAS degrees, the kind that are most common in AI today, will still include at least some liberal studies courses. But they really focus on the hard technical elements that go into AI engineering. You can expect foundational courses in subjects like: