What are your plans? Are you planning to quit software altogether? Or stop coding and adapt, accept AI but stay in software field? Or something else? If you’re not in software, what plans then?
It would be helpful if you can include what career level are you at (or age range, if you prefer)
So I'm guessing that experience will help me get whatever my next job is, but I also think my next job might end up being my last job in the field.
I'll either go into management, or just semi-retire and work on my own projects, or leave the field entirely and start working in the board game industry, I don't know, something.
If I switched fields I'll probably take a major pay cut though (if I go into the board game industry I'll probably be lucky to make a quarter of what I'm making right now). But paycuts might be coming anyway to the software engineering field as a whole before too long anyway.
Keeping up the motivation was already difficult before A.I., I'd already dealt with so much startup, small business, and corporate crap over the years it was starting to pile up. I might need to take a sabbatical at some point, or at least a couple of months off.
I've been working in software engineering in some form or another for a little over 20 years now.
I have no education outside high-school, my entire career has been in software with no valuable domain or specialized experience.
Its either that or gig work slave.
- micro SaaS
- consulting for AI solutions
- robotics or other hardware
Consulting might still be around at least in the short term, I guess…
Anyone who is just an order taker or bills by the hour or keeps people waiting too long is going to be eliminated by AI. That is the brutal and honest truth. Companies have always wanted to move fast and now AI removes the dependency on humans to a great extent. I personally have started coding again with AI to move things faster at our company. Not in everything but for anything new/experiements/product dev work.
Tthere are tons of opportunities for senior devs to adjust and use AI to make them more valuable. If you work a regular corporate 9-5, your options may be limited unless you have a say. But if you work for yourself or smaller companies, get on the AI bandwagon if you want to keep you job and excel further. For example, one of my close friends is very senior level at a company and she is now vibe coding in house tools and working with her management team to show the ROI. She otherwise manages a team of over 1000+ people across global locations.
Remember, if you can't beat them, join them. Good luck.