I considered myself to be a web developer in the 90s and early 00s. Then things began changing very quickly into something I didn't recognize. I came from an era that did layout with table tags! I felt like an old dog having to learn new tricks. I chose to pivot into statistics rather than adapt, though I've since come back around via data science and systems engineering.
I don't think what's happening is a uniquely AI phenomenon. If it wasn't AI, it was going to be something else. The ground is always shifting beneath you. It's happened to me in multiple fields through my career. You adapt or you pivot. Like a startup.
For many people who feel negatively affected by AI, my advice to them is to do what I did when my professional disciplines changed to something I didn't recognize: pivot. The great news is that AI makes it really easy to be a beginner in a new adjacent field.
This underestimates the difficulty of pivoting towards a career that won't be affected by AI any time soon: blue collar work, most likely, for us knowledge workers.
I'm keen to learn plumbing or becoming an electrician, but I won't hide the fact that I am so used sitting on my ass at home all day and get paid, not making physical effort, get callused hands and driving around in a van to make rent. I'll have to do it, but to say it's a traumatic change for someone in their 40s is an understatement.
The silver lining is that coding for fun, by hand, however I want, on whatever I damn please, after a whole week of physical activity, will be the best reward, one I haven't felt since my teenage years.
I don't think pivoting requires pivoting towards a career that won't be affected by AI.
The importance of the pivot is that you're going into a field without preconceived ideas about how it's done, which allows you to learn and grow as the field adapts to AI. That was my experience pivoting away from web dev in the early 00s, anyway.
madrox · · focus · HN ↗
I don't think what's happening is a uniquely AI phenomenon. If it wasn't AI, it was going to be something else. The ground is always shifting beneath you. It's happened to me in multiple fields through my career. You adapt or you pivot. Like a startup.
For many people who feel negatively affected by AI, my advice to them is to do what I did when my professional disciplines changed to something I didn't recognize: pivot. The great news is that AI makes it really easy to be a beginner in a new adjacent field.
vconnor · · focus · HN ↗
This underestimates the difficulty of pivoting towards a career that won't be affected by AI any time soon: blue collar work, most likely, for us knowledge workers.
I'm keen to learn plumbing or becoming an electrician, but I won't hide the fact that I am so used sitting on my ass at home all day and get paid, not making physical effort, get callused hands and driving around in a van to make rent. I'll have to do it, but to say it's a traumatic change for someone in their 40s is an understatement.
The silver lining is that coding for fun, by hand, however I want, on whatever I damn please, after a whole week of physical activity, will be the best reward, one I haven't felt since my teenage years.
madrox · · focus · HN ↗
The importance of the pivot is that you're going into a field without preconceived ideas about how it's done, which allows you to learn and grow as the field adapts to AI. That was my experience pivoting away from web dev in the early 00s, anyway.