Natural Language Processing Software Engineer
Discover the Natural Language Processing software engineer job: role, educational background, skills, salary and jobs at AViSTO. It is also possible to submit an unsolicited application.
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Natural Language Processing
Natural Language Processing, NLP, is a discipline on the borderline of linguistics, computer science and artificial intelligence. It deals with the application of computer programs and techniques to all aspects of human language. This definition of NLP was given by Eugene Charniak.
We also speak about Automatic NLP.
NLP is used, for example, in projects whose purpose is to create conversational agents, or chatbots, especially for websites.
Job Description
Natural Language Processing Software Engineer starts with the advanced analysis of a semantic corpus.
A language is by nature evolutionary, has different registers (formal, informal). The context also has a lot of influence: we do not use the same language on Twitter as in administrative documents. Finally, each language has of course its own characteristics: for example, in Mandarin, ideograms are glued to each other in sentences; you have to be able to separate them properly so that they make sense.
From this complex, moving base, the first mission of the NLP software engineer is to define relevant and representative elements of the analyzed texts.
Once the characteristics of the semantic corpus are known, the NLP software engineer will choose one or more algorithms that will enable him to carry out the analysis in an automated way.
For example, the TF-IDF is an algorithm very commonly used by specialists in NLP.
In big data contexts, the volume of data to be taken into account is such that it is indeed impossible to proceed manually.
Next, the NLP software engineer will develop scripts, for example in Python, to launch the analyzes.
Once the results are known and interpreted, he will communicate them to his various contact persons and constantly discuss with them so that his conversational agent can continue to improve and answer more and more accurately to the questions asked.
Become a Natural Language Processing Software Engineer
To become a Natural Language Processing Software Engineer, one can follow a computer engineering school with a specialization in NLP, or a master degree from the university.
This is not the only possible entry point: one can also access the domain of automatic language processing after having completed a master degree in mathematics or statistics.
Finally, besides programming and mathematics, one can arrive in NLP through linguistics. “Linguistic engineers” are often linguists with a computer programming educational background(for example, there are master degrees in computational linguistics at the university).
Skills
The Natural Language Processing Software Engineer skills are many.
As we have seen above, one must first have an excellent analytical mind.
Then you have to master one or more programming languages, for example Python, which has many libraries for performing NLP (e.g. Python NLTK).
Then, to know how to use computer science programs of artificial intelligence is useful. For example Watson IBM, designed to answer questions in natural language.
Finally, talking several living languages is a plus: in the context of NLP projects using foreign languages, this knowledge is useful in the detection of the different linguistic corpora.
Natural Language Processing software engineer Salary
At the beginning of his career in France, this engineer usually earns a salary somewhere between 33K€ and 36K€.
Natural Language Processing software engineer Jobs
AViSTO regularly recruits Natural Language Processing software engineers! You can apply to an offer on our job board, or apply spontaneously.