1. Move to a robotics company as an SDE and then gradually transition into a robotics-focused role. 2. Move into a role related to AI. 3. Move into a junior robotics position with a significant pay cut.
For options 2 and 3, I currently have no experience, so I need to prepare for them now. I need some advice on how to navigate this career shift.
Many roboticists overlook the need for JavaScript in their skill set and tech stack. This is because of the evolution of robotics projects and companies: first you build a prototype and only then do you deploy and scale your fleet. The first part is hard and doesn't require any JS. But the second part is even harder and requires a ton of JS, because without web-tooling you won't be able to operate efficiently. This offers a great opportunity for roboticists to distinguish themselves from others be mastering JS for both the backend (rosnodejs, rclnodejs) and the front-end (React, Transitive Robotics). This sets you apart from both "regular" roboticists and from "pure" web developers.
https://www.udacity.com/course/robotics-software-engineer--n...
Or a graduate certificate from Stanford:
https://online.stanford.edu/programs/robotics-and-autonomous...