By Sixth Tone
Publication Date: 2026-06-12 12:52:00
When Wu Jianhua graduated from college in June 2024, China’s AI industry seemed to be hiring everyone but her. Desperate to find a way, she turned to AI tutorials on social media.
“But the videos were mainly aimed at professionals and used very complex language,” the 24-year-old told Sixth Tone.
When a friend who completed the program and got a job told her about a three-month AI training boot camp in Beijing, Wu decided to give it a try. By the end of March, she had learned the Python programming language and gotten a job as a junior AI trainer, one of a growing number of entry-level positions supporting China’s AI boom.
“Unlike the videos I found online, the courses broke down concepts with examples,” Wu said.
Wu is among a growing number of Chinese graduates turning to short-term training programs as competition for jobs increases. As the number of new college graduates has increased from 7.65 million in 2016 to 12.7 million this year, many are finding that employers…
