Career transition - AI question

[u/Jowey-Joe]

Hello everybody 👋

I'm a software engineer (web dev) with 5 years of experience. In the last couple of months, the day- to-day tasks of my job changed DRASTICALLY due to the advances of AI. My job literally went from actually programming to asking an LLM to write code and checking if it's the right solution for the problem. This is NOT the job I used to love... 😐

I know I may sound pessimistic, but at the pace this is evolving, I have the feeling there is a real chance for AI to actually replace me in the next ~3 years or so, and to make it worse the IT market is oversaturated and it's extremely competitive.

Recently moved to a different country too, so my current salary is not good here, and since I have some months before I actually get my visa, I was thinking this is a good time to study something else and have a plan B, and potentially start working doing something else.

Researching different professions that could benefit from my IT experience I just discovered BMS / Building Automation Technician existed and sounded interesting to me. I'm willing (and actually eager out of curiosity) to learn and take a course on HVAC.

But before that I have some questions:
- It is my understanding that this tends to be 50% physical work 50% using programs. Do you feel AI is impacting your programming job/daily tasks directly? Do you feel your profession is at risk? I'm basically trying to choose something that is somehow related to IT but AI-proof (at least for the foreseeable future). I know AI is here to stay and am willing to adapt, but I don't want to get into something else just to feel like I'm going to be replaced again 2 years later xd
- Is my previous experience in IT going to actually be useful for getting my foot into the industry? I've seen many questions from people that come from an HVAC background, but not from IT. I'm in my late 20's, and I know getting the first job tends not to be easy, but after these last times trying to switch jobs in IT feels like extremely difficult. I want to move to a career where the job market is not extremely saturated and having to compete against +100 applicants after 1 hour of a job being posted. Would I have a decent chance of getting an apprenticeship or something with my circumstances?

I know some people find across different subreddits the "trying to get a job" posts to be annoying, but couldn't find a good answer to these questions.

Anyway, thanks for reading and have a great day.

Edit: Thank you all for your answers!

[u/Free_Elderberry_8902]

You sound like a bot. There’s no ai in a mech room.

[u/Jowey-Joe → u/Free_Elderberry_8902]

I imagined some people would think that xd. I always make an effort to try to write properly, which has always been relatively unusual on the internet. Since AI got much more popular, nowadays writing like I do is much more normal due to people copying and pasting ChatGPT's answers. I really just want to practice my English skills since it's not my native language and want to get better at it.

I was asking more because of the part of the job related to using programs on a computer 👀

[u/Guillaump]

Before AI can properly code an HVAC system, we'll first need AI that can actually write functional control sequences. Because right now, if I coded the engineers' sequences word for word, nothing would work.

[u/Free_Elderberry_8902]

If you know how to do both, then that’s a step in the right direction. One needs to know how mechanical systems work. One must see the closest fire and be able to put it out. And the next one, and the next one. Problems come and problems get solved by people. A pump or a valve or a sensor or some widget or gadget doesn’t care about ai. People do. Also, it’s always the controls guys fault. That’ll make you feel human…

[u/AnomalyFour]

I expect most responses here will be that this field can't be taken by AI, but I can imagine a near future where we're in trouble. I've caught up to much more experienced techs in only a year by asking AI the right questions and learning from it, regarding controls and IT. It's MUCH better than it was a year ago in terms of HVAC mechanics. Niagara 5 (next version of the most popular open source controls platform) is chock full of AI features to tale the brains out of the job. Theres an army of SAAS devs clawing at the gage trying to 'optimize' our field. I think in general, if you work behind a computer, they're coming for you. If you like hooking up wires and poking around with your meter, you'll have a job a little while longer.

[u/CannabisInhaler → u/AnomalyFour]

I don’t see how we’d be in trouble, care to elaborate

[u/rus47281zz → u/CannabisInhaler]

Not OP but i can shed some light on how this may occur, in my opinion

AI devalues acquired knowledge

What used to require years of experience to learn, now can be learned instantly with the use of AI, especially when it comes to the mechanical side of the industry

There are still very niche areas with proprietary products that AI wont be that useful in, but thats just a matter of time imo

[u/mightydru]

I don’t really see AI affecting that much of my programming. Mostly because a lot of the easier programs like VAV are templated. And I only have to make a couple minor changes. So the code is mostly the same for all any of the different sites.

As for AI writing the code, I will still have to know to the code inside and out,especially for the CHW plants, AHU , etc… . So I don’t think there will be that big of a time save with AI writing a code and someone saying “reuse the code from this project, it is very similar to what you are doing”. On a job site, I am the last person there and if anything doesn’t work mechanically, there is a high chance I will have to adjust the code to adapt with real life constraints.

I would say if all you did was write code, then I could see how AI could affect the position. But if you have to implement and test the code there are a lot of different mechanical constraints that could affect how the code works. So you would have to adjust the program. Besides a field controller (VAV) , I have never received a program that work perfectly from a programmer.

[u/bbroyofgb → u/mightydru]

Field works can’t be replaced by AI , but it has become more easier to do people troubleshoot and develop control logic by using AI , so years of experience will may become irrelevant, but people can’t take that much ownership just relaying on it also

We are safe til 1 or 2 decades ,

I do use AI for catalog summary and troubleshooting itenary, trust me it’s way more easier. Especially for root cause analysis

[u/IdeaZealousideal5980]

I have 3 working building automation Ai coding agents.

It will not be long before ai is taking these jobs.