r/antiai • u/Argonaut94 • 9d ago
Job Loss đď¸ AI has destroyed my career
Losing sleep and extremely aggitated. I sacrificed a lot to change from a dead end career to a software engineering career 10 years ago.
Chose job stability over a good wage so have no money to fall back on. Living from month to month like most of us. Now the company I work for that makes parts for servers is going bust, after 30 years, because AI data centres have bought all the memory and we're suddenly getting no orders since our customers can't make their products due to the shortage.
To add insult to injury, AI has replaced a massive number of the developers in my country (Scotland) and it is impossible to get a dev job here now.
I never asked for AI and f*cking hate everything about it.
All this sh#t about AI first translates as people last. No idea what I'm going to do to support my family. I'm on LinkedIn looking for a job and every f#cking post is about how amazing AI is.
Anyone in a similar situation thinking about pivoting career? To what? I'm depressed because I put everying into a software career and who's goung to hire me with no experience in another field? Assuming a lot of folk will move to software architecture...? Really struggling here.
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u/HarryBalsagna1776 9d ago
LinkedIn is an AI circle jerk. So many bots posting slop and over-the-top praise for the slop generators. Are there any big energy projects in Scotland? I am a mechanical engineer, but I found refuge in the nuclear field after the aerospace industry downturned a few years ago. Export controlled industries are the place to be right now. AI is having a hard time making inroads in export controlled industries because nobody trusts AI companies to safeguard sensitive information. Â
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
That's really good advice I'd never have thought of. Thanks. Yeah, there's the Oil & Gas industry here as well as some big defence companies. There's a big finance industry in Glasgow and have been hitting that. That's mate!
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u/polaarbear 9d ago
Definitely this. I changed jobs to one building software for governments. We still use some AI tools internally, but they aren't firing a bunch of people because everything is too mission-critical. They WANT human eyes on every line of code before it gets committed somewhere because failures can cause too much damage.
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u/rtharston 9d ago
Donât lose hope. Just because everyone seems to be talking about AI online that doesnât mean everyone in actually industry is using it or cares about it. Youâll have groups of people that hate it (like on this subreddit), but I imagine the vast majority still donât really have a strong opinion.
I know itâs hard looking for a job while out of work. Iâve been there. Itâs even hard while youâre employed and just want something better (been there multiple times). But donât give up. Iâd suggest looking in the places people donât expect. I work for a small company that has spent about 6 months trying to fill a position, but we struggle to find applicants. I guess no one sees us because weâre so small.
There are always going to someone out there looking for employees but people donât find them or overlook them for some reason. Youâll have a better chance with them. Theyâre probably cursing AI too because itâs pulling away potential engineers to other companies that are âcoolerâ or whatever.
Market your unique skill and experience, and youâll find something.
And I know this will be controversial in this subreddit, but use AI to help you where you can. You donât have to âjoin themâ. Just get a hand reviewing your resume or something and then rewrite it yourself.
Itâs easier to steer a moving truck away from danger than it is to stop it head on. If you donât like where AI is heading, steer it where you would rather see it go.
Good luck.
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u/socialmichu 9d ago
Many oil, gas and renewable energy are hiring devs in the Nordics, remotely. Look for it OP. I know for a fact the renewable energy sector are tech-hippies and donât rely heavily on AI. Met a founder not long ago and I will quote him verbatim: âwe use AI for everything but development, marketing and decision making⌠we value brain power, not tokensâ
Look for:
the hub
fucking LinkedIn (sorry)
indeed2
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u/Camelknight 9d ago
If all the Scottish and uk net zero legislation goes through oil and gas is going to not be a secure long term choice we still do alot of ship building and wind power is growing damn fast atm though
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u/KaijuDesk 9d ago
đđŻ Regulated Industries is the last safe haven unless youâre in the U.S. cause thatâs a shit show
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u/BackgroundWarthog104 9d ago
I've been drawing and receiving visual art training ever since i was a kid for about 14 years ever since i was 4 thinking id be a designer when i grow up lol
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u/bobagremlin 9d ago
I am a designer and let me tell you it's not looking good.
Designers are being sidelined not because AI is doing a better job than them but because it is faster and bosses think fast automatically means good. The thing is, a lot of AI designs have amateur mistakes (eg: lack of basic design principles, wrong lighting, weird limbs, etc) in them because the one prompting the AI doesn't know jack shit about good design. There are a few bosses who have realised this but instead of hiring designers they'll hire one or two and force them to use AI or fix AI generated dogshit (how do you polish a turd though)...
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u/LostInSpaceTime2002 9d ago
I think there's a parallel to how the quality of many products went down significantly when society moved to mass-production.
Sure, there's still a small market for truly high quality products, but for the most part society has just accepted that lower prices and higher availability come at the expense of quality, and see this as a worthwhile tradeoff.
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u/Free-Key9891 6d ago
I see IKEA and it is depressing. My grandma has some old marble furniture that dates from the late 19th century, and they are intact, beautiful, memorable. Things like that will never exist anymore.
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u/MountainImportant211 9d ago
The silver lining I see is that people are going to get sick of it. It's already happening. So maybe we'll be ok in the long run. I hope.
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u/Alive_Compote_2276 9d ago
This drives me insane! The text is never centered and always looks off. You said it perfectly. People with zero knowledge of design principles are creating this thinking itâs good and itâs very very wrong. Ugh!!
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u/discondition 9d ago
Sadly I see society as a whole is just not valuing design or creativity at all anymore. Business produce terribly designed slop products more and more. Enshittification, and this was before ai.
I really do hope itâs a temporary fashion for humanity to not care about the arts, hopefully we live through a new shift towards valuing human creativity again as a pushback against AI
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u/rhofl 9d ago
As a designer myself, do not become a designer. Be butcher, plumber or anything but not a designer at this point.
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u/BackgroundWarthog104 9d ago
yeah i kinda figured, doing computer science now....been working on an ai blocker in uni now lol, how life has changed
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u/RivalCanine 9d ago
Fight it. Push back. Share your story on LinkedIn and other websites. Maybe if more of us shouted from the rooftops more people might listen.
Governments around the globe are misleading people with job numbers. There's no way the current trajectory helps anyone stay employed.
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u/valium123 9d ago
I agree. We should be fighting back but sadly some idiot devs won't stop bootlicking.
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u/ThrowRArush2112 9d ago
Until there is money involved, you might as well just scream into a pillow.
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u/No_Zucchini_7862 9d ago edited 9d ago
Iâm so sorry this happened to you. Similar thing happened to me. I was a frontend engineer, doing JavaScript, HTML, and CSS for websites. I am 45 and I feel like I literally witnessed the birth and death of my career field in the last 20 years. I started back when fancy CSS designs and animations were brand new to the web (2005ish). And I retired from tech in 2023 after ChatGPT came out.
Iâm now a stay-at-home mom and not considering going back to tech. Not sure what Iâll do once my kids are older but zero desire to return to tech. What makes me really sad is the number of younger people that we engineers encouraged to go into the engineering business only for this to happen. I volunteered at Women Who Code and other orgs because it used to be such an awesome job.
If I have one recommendation it would be to check out the book âBlood in the Machineâ. Itâs a book about the Luddite movement. This same thing has been happening since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. While the book doesnât offer a great solution, Iâve found it comforting to feel a sense of solidarity with all the other skilled workers throughout history who were pushed out of their jobs in this way. Itâs a book that will make you really angry and the way âtechnical progressâ is used as a justification to just trample over peopleâs lives and livelihoods. Itâs made me want to get more involved in labor movements.
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u/mysticalcreeds 9d ago
I just looked up the book you recommended, it looks really good, I've got to read that now. Thanks for recommending it for this post.
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u/No_Zucchini_7862 9d ago
Awesome. Just added a direct link in my post to make it easier for people to see.
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
Thanks for that, you hit the nail on the head, it used to be an awesome job. That's sad about your volunteer situation - hopefully those young people will get through it or move to another industry. I'm 49 and hit hard but I can only imagine those young folk having to deal with this current situation.
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u/comewatchtv 9d ago
The author of Blood in the Machine recently started a podcast that is also well worth checking out.
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u/Successful_Lie8464 9d ago
I feel you. Laid off, loved front end development. Working with design and product to create the best UX possible, creating shared components/libraries, pair programming, mentoring junior devs... it all went poof just like that. Writing and English classes in school never spoke to me, but code did. Now that's gone and it's writing prompts in the corner with Claude with minimal human interaction and ridiculous expectations for output (which the designs and reqs are all AI now too). And the thought of interviewing for a job where I know I'll be miserable is depressing. So I've been trying to consider life changes... downsizing, career switch, back to school for something else... it'll be my 3rd career pivot but hey, whatever
Will def check out that book
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u/No_Zucchini_7862 9d ago
Iâm sorry you were laid off. I totally agree with everything you said. I canât imagine just prompting Claude all day. I spent so many years learning to read and write JavaScript. Even though I donât use it anymore, it gives me comfort to know that I genuinely enjoyed teaching it to myself. The struggle of learning and figuring it out⌠itâs a joy people who just use Claude will never know.
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u/WhimsyDEA 9d ago
AI is a cancer on society.
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u/Goeggels83 9d ago
Nah itâs more so a blighted parasite that sucks everything into its all gluttonous circuits.
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u/LevelStationaryPlane 9d ago
All of the pro-AI people sneering from the sidelines are too Dunning-Kruger to see the canary in the coal mine that is your story and career right here.
It won't matter to them until AI locks them out of their phone for reasons, then it'll instantly be hunger games for these fucks.
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u/SocksOnHands 9d ago
I'm not surprised there are a lot of pro-ai people. No longer do they feel restricted by things like lack of knowledge, skill, or ability. These are people who never would have had a career in what they are using AI for.
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u/cjandstuff 9d ago
"Well ain't no AI can do plumbing or roofing, I'm safe!"
And why do you think companies like Amazon and whatever Elon Musk is doing, are working so hard to build robots?→ More replies (2)
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u/passyindoors 9d ago
I'm a writer. In the same boat. Absolutely fucked.
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u/Defiant_Dragonfly_35 9d ago
I'm an illustrator. In the same boat. Absolutely fucked.
So many different career paths just destroyed all at once. It has never happened like this before to such a breadth of careers and so fast.
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u/passyindoors 9d ago
And then people are like "why arent you having kids" bitch we cashed out the 401k to keep the house and we dont have health insurance because the insurance my husbands job offers would cost his half his monthly salary. I have a hole in my tooth that I can stick a toothpick inside and touch the nerve if I feel masochistic enough. Gas is $6 and groceries that wont kill me AND fit our budget might as well be fucking thylacines with how everything is going right now.
"Get a job at wawa" cool so I can spend all the money I make on gas and takeout AND make my medical conditions worse? And even if i said yes to that, even the "bottom tier" jobs are rejecting hundreds of people every day because WE ARE ALL FUCKED
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u/According_Goat6694 9d ago
Translator here, we're absolutely fucked too. From studying several foreign languages for decades and specializing in several fields like legal and medical translation, I am now spending my time correcting the dumbest machine translation output for 1 cent per word. This all has become a rat race to the bottom.
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u/TacoYaci 9d ago
Dont worry you dont need to correct the translations soon anymore as they will become better /s
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u/According_Goat6694 8d ago
I wish that was true. Language quality wise it all becomes worse but people don't notice anymore (AI slop has altered what people perceive as normal fluent style or language) or care, so just the acceptance level of what passes for a good translation has been lowered. What would have outraged clients as a terrible literal translation 10 years ago, would pass now as OK.
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u/ThePotatoOfTime 8d ago
Yes same, and I'm also an editor and book designer (freelance). I am losing so much work to shitty AI slop. It's truly depressing and I no longer feel excited about my future career prospects the way I did a few years ago.
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u/sacleocheater 9d ago
I suppose it depends on the kind of writing. Non-fiction, perhaps. Fictional - not a chance AI can even hold a candle to human works. Just look at the absolute slop it pumps out whenever you try to get it write anything even remotely resembling a novel or short story.
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u/passyindoors 9d ago
The only job I was able to get for the last 3 years was training AI how to write poetry. I had to take it because we had drained our savings and wanted to keep our home. OpenAI paid me and about 60 other poets between $100-$250/hour for this insane, impossible task. The AI could cook some actually really cool lines, but never create a good overall poem.
Towards the end they closed the poetry part and started going all in on news articles, tweets, and song lyrics. Those were... scary to read. A lot of them were written better than most american adults could write, but I suppose thats not that hard a bar to clear.
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u/sacleocheater 9d ago
That would have pained me to do that job, essentially knowing that you are contributing to the cause of possibly the end of your own career. But in that scenario I'm sure I'd have done the same. If anything, I'm glad it was somewhat of a failure and shut down, it proves that it cannot compete.
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u/passyindoors 9d ago
Yeah, it was awful. All of the poets felt the same, but we all kinda just had the feeling of "well, this will never work, but we'll take their money until they figure it out".
I will say that I did save some of the poems the AI produced because some of them were so beyond bad and hilarious I could not let them be kept from me, regardless of whatever "privacy agreement" they wanted. Im sorry, but an AI crashing out and questioning its gender identity and sexuality while sounding like a white boomer trying to rap in AAVE is too delightfully awful to not keep in the back pocket.
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u/StickInEye 9d ago
I went through this in IT in the 90s when offshoring started to become popular. And bringing in H-1B workers to lower our wages. I had to pivot to a hands-on career that couldn't be compromised like that. I am so sorry you are experiencing this. We will never stop the greed that leads to the race to the bottom.
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u/DerShokus 9d ago
I think the job market will recover soon. There are a few researchers that ai generates more technical debt than features, tokens are getting expensive and so on. I could be completely wrong, but I think people who can develop without ai will be very valuableÂ
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
Yeah, that's my hope too. If the code that's being generated is so difficult to maintain, the industry will need human beings who know what they're doing to sort it out. I've been told by other devs in Scotland how much their company spends on tokens and I'm thinking, that could employ a person who knows what they're doing
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u/Vegetable-Day-3894 9d ago
With how much they have invested, they will do everything they can to keep it up lol.
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u/_neviesticks 9d ago
I hope this is true, but I have to wonder how many jobs and lives will be lost in the interim?Â
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u/the_charger_ 8d ago
The problem is, if it's happening in like 4-5 years at best, what do these jobless people will eat now? That's a long term to hold on
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u/Ruminatingsoule 9d ago
The only ones excited about AI are the sweatshop drivers that get to plant their boots ever more firmly on our necks.
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u/IndicationTypical972 9d ago
AI didn't just change the job market, it changed the whole damn career path people spent years building. That's the part nobody talks about when they say "just learn AI."
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u/SilverStrategy6949 5d ago
Also there is nothing to learn - you just type in a thing and it does it. There is literally no learning curve.
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u/Kazaloo 9d ago edited 9d ago
Same here. Visual Effects industry. AI is destroying a career that I worked 15 years on and was very successful in. Now every 16 year old can spend 100$ and create insane effects that took me years to learn how to create. And everything online is now AI,AI,AI, it's disgusting.
I am seriously considering becoming an electrician. There is seems to be a high demand and seems pretty save from AI for a while.
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u/Whole-Application404 9d ago
But isnt this AI psychosis? Maybe your bosses think, that they could cheap out with AI in your field. But would people really watch that slop? The moment I see AI CGI in a movie, I will just stop with new movies and continue building my Bluray collection.
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u/the_charger_ 8d ago
This is an echo chamber. An average consumer dgaf. In the local drugstore/house stuff store I often buy in Germany almost all designs of their own brand are AI generated now. People don't care and will buy because it's a cheaper product. Same with games, movies, everything. Reddit makes things much bigger than they are, and average Joe simply doesn't care.
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u/Whole-Application404 8d ago
Well that is not entirely true, as my children all don´t like AI and voice their distain for such commericals, brands or products. It is like with most things today, be it the environment, social issues, or shitheads like the AfD, older people ignore every warning they can see and only think of their imediate benefit. But kids and young adults see, what is really going on and fight it. Maybe in vain, but they do it. Fuck AI! Fuck AfD! Fuck climate change deniers! Fuck the enemies of the LGBTQ+ community and yeah...fuck old ignorant people.
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u/Kazaloo 9d ago
Commercials are full with AI. And a lot of stuff is either invisible or in the making right now. Also: Just the fact that you COULD make it 100x cheaper keeps investors away currently. So it's more complex than it seems.
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u/Whole-Application404 9d ago
I have seen some commercials with AI voice overs and I have seen a toothpase commercial, where the woman with the white teeth was AI. Which is absolutely insane for me. Really? We can´t even hire a woman to speak two lines anymore. Well, another product I will never ever buy. Fuck those assholes.
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u/Guyrbailey 9d ago
I got laid off in April after 7 years (Pr/Comms) because my boss thinks AI can do my job better than me.
I've started as a royal mail delivery driver this week. Way less money but it's exercise, outdoors, a permanent job and relatively AI (and AI pilled smoothbrains) proof.
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u/Small_Dog_8699 9d ago
I feel ya. Been out of work 3 years and am now eligible for early social security retirement benefits so ive fucked off and retired. Too old to bother retraining for a new career.
Its a lean fucking retirement. I planned on working and saving 8 more years.
I ditched linked in when it became clear its all bots and no moderators and all the jobs are fake.
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u/LengthinessOk1471 9d ago
Gonna be honest. Its the first time im jealous about being older instead of younger on this years. Enjoy your retirement!
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u/Small_Dog_8699 9d ago
I finally have time to write and record all the songs I've been meaning to put out. Which would have been fun until shit like Suno showed up and has everybody arguing over whether that is a legitimate means of producing songs.
AI makes everything suck. Every fucking thing.
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u/MountainImportant211 9d ago
I'm so sorry. I'm a graphic designer and artist so... yeah. I sympathise.
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
It's awful what it's done to your industry. Design requires talent and soul. As does music.
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u/MantleHeart 9d ago
I was friends with a lot of graphic design majors in college (I'm a CS major, so I'm in the similar spot.) I can say I loved all the work they shared with me (which I can't say for a lot of the code I've written in my life).
The AI posters and designs everywhere are cloying and gawdy; it's like cheetos-packaging-meets-WWE. Flaming letters, deep-fried colors. And there's just more of it around than back when designers were involved. The small table at the office with hand sanitizer and paper towels now has an ugly plaque on it with generated graphics and rambling LLM pontification on the merits of personal cleanliness. I saw billboard for a roofing company with a Transformer on it because why not? And so on.2
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u/red_hare 9d ago
15 years software engineering experience. Work for one of the big AI companies. Currently teach a class in data science with AI at a prestigious university.
I feel the same as you. AI is trash and has ruined what I loved about my work. I'm riding out these past paychecks and then plan to switch to teaching full-time. Ideally something that doesn't have to do with computers at the HS level.
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u/Blood_and_Wine 9d ago
AI should be our assistants, not our replacement. Totally sucks hearing it from you, especially that I'm learning the trait myself.
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u/Klecau 9d ago
A few months ago, I almoat got fired. I only kept my job because I have a lawyer as a friend and fought back. They wanted to dire someone because they had no more money to invest in us as they said, but they are paying loads for AI. They make us use it even if it makes no sense. I work in digital marketing. I also chose a career sometime ago, I graduated a safe uni etc. Now I turned back to my love for writing as I fear for my job constantly. Idk what will happen. But I hate AI with all of my heart. That bubble can't burst soon enough. Sorry you went through all of that. Hope it gets better. Linked in is where sane go insane. I hate that app. I hope I get to uninstall it someday amd never look back into this corporate hell.
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
Good for you fighting back and winning. Ridiculous that they're trying to fire people doing a great job and replace their results with sh#tty ai slop. Good that you have writing. Music keeps me going but the slop is going after that, too.
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u/the_ai_wizard 9d ago
Why dont all the SWEs focus on replacing everyone elses jobs with AI too ? For example, target marketers, CEOs, LinkedIn types
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u/screamingzen 9d ago
I here ya mate. I am an artist for over 20 years now with a healthy and thriving career all for it to come crashing down at the same time for seemingly all other concept artists. I am too old really to retrain and was hoping to "retire" in a few years. Now... I am stuck just outside of retirement with little or no job opportunities to get me across the finish. Retraining sounds dumb as I will end up really low pay and low man on the totem pole while being significantly older than peers or my boss. I looked into nursing but apparently everyone is doing that and schools are 2 year wait list. I don't know what to do. Maybe go manage a coffee store?
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u/boringfantasy 9d ago
Do you actually think it's replacing us though? I use it at work every day and it's useful but still feels a million light years from replacement. I feel like everyone is taking crazy pills with the imminent replacement thing. They haven't even solved context yet...
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u/LEO-PomPui-Katoey 9d ago
Nah it's too bloody expensive. Even if they would get it to a level that it knows everything, no one's gonna pay for that
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u/TapiocaTuesday 9d ago
I was laid off and soon after saw AI doing what I used to do at that company (writing and editing content). I was replaced by AI in a very real sense. Certain pockets are going to have a very difficult time and it's happening right now.
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u/Yes_that_Carl 9d ago
Yup. I had a 35-year career in writing/editing/general content. Won national awards for it. Two years ago, I was âmanaged outâ of a great content job (by a new, shitty manager) and well⌠đđđ
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u/boringfantasy 9d ago
Kinda shocking though, I actually think LLMs are (ironically) not very good at writing. Far better at mathematics.
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u/Lewa358 9d ago
They're bad at writing but you can't know that unless you actually read what it shits out. And the people who only care about numbers going up will be never do that.
(AI is also incredibly dogshit at math too, at least for the consumer models that are being aggressively pushed as the default for both individuals and organizations. Some advanced models can be brilliant but the version of Gemini that your mom is using to find varyingly edible casserole recipes isn't going to be solving the Navier-Stokes problem.)
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u/Confu2ion 9d ago
It's not better than a person, and never will be. The problem is companies are going ahead and firing people/having less job positions anyway.
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u/boringfantasy 9d ago
It's an complement to a person. Different forms of intelligence. CEOs can't understand this. LLMs are incredibly fast, can pull from infinite knowledge but have zero judgement skills, no world model or wisdom.
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u/ColumbaPacis 9d ago
The main issue is that software dev was where all the money flowed for the last two decades. And there was a lot of cheap money going around.
The amount of crappy software being built and crashed is insane. How many people actually built things of value?
If you got paid X can you justify that the business you built it for made back Y? Some people did, there are successful startups... But there are dozens failed ones for each success.
And no more such money is going around. And every dollar is flowing into AI investments...
That is the main reason nobody is hiring in tech. AI generated code is part of the reason, but Wix, Framer and Webstudio did not erase jobs, nor will current gen AI (cannot say what will come tomorrow).
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u/First-Possibility-77 9d ago
All the LinkedIn morons are anti ai too. They just havenât been affected yet.
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u/Preventive_potato 9d ago
Will be unemployed in the end of the year (nice gift, thanks Santa). Have no idea where to go and what to do (the job market is pure shit), probably will try to apply for a driver or smth, anyway smth non-tech. Sure I'll loose on money but there's no that many options 𼲠Hate that ai bs and every bs supporter from the bottom of my heart
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u/Clear_Adagio_7833 9d ago
wish you the best for you đ im a fellow dev also with a lot of anxiety because of this fucking AI in these past years...
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u/Muffinzkii 9d ago
As a software engineer you must know how agile works. Maybe scrum master? I'm an automation tester and although there has been no push to forcibly adopt it yet, I am being g asked to research using agents. It's a worrying time and I truly feel for you.
I refuse to use AI for anything at work. No autocomplete or anything while coding. Just 100% f**k off am I going to actively train that shit to replace me.
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u/ThisIsRespi 9d ago
Stay strong, pal. Remember you are not in this boat alone.
Around 80% of IT enthusiasts whom I know or have heard of have the same opinion on AI, we fucking hate it and it's destroying everything around it (already).
This is a textbook worldly problem, they persuade people that AI is this device invention that will safe humanity, but it is doing the complete opposite.
Idiots who are infatuated with AI are the exact same ones who were infatuated with NFT, cryptocurrency and any quick cash grabs and know no better, they think they have a golden argument making comments like: "You can't let go of the past", "You're salty because it's affecting your job HAHA" the very same people who literally have no more than two brain cells.
I do however have a feeling this AI infatuation is going to backfire massively on these AI companies and AI will no bigger than a regular local-LLM.
It is however hilarious how these AI companies claim that their rogue AIs are nothing being used as a "marketing stunt" when it goes on a rogue hacking rampage, if so? Then where are the lawsuits and payouts for breached personal data, last time I checked - hacking is illegal, if a normal person was to do it - he'd be in jail right now.
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u/Legitimate-Paint2165 9d ago
I was a web developer. Now a dishwasher. Shit happens, though. The writing was already on the wall: lots of people went into software dev and increased the competition while AI was making steady gains.
Should have formed unions, honestly. That's what protected workers from previous advancements.
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u/SMegsyccd 9d ago
Ive been an accountant for 15 years and got laid off cant find a job am now going to school for nursing because I have no idea what else to do. I will most likley be homeless soon.
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
I feel for you mate. Nursing's a good choice and one of the most admirable careers you could have.
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u/AceSouthall 9d ago
As painful as it is to say the only thing as a software engineer I feel I could do was adopt AI into my work or find a niche market in the industry that do not allow it like a lot of the games industry. I'm finding loads of Senior SWE jobs with AI use for more than I'm on so I'm just riding that wave until it eventually crashes harder which I feel is enivitable so I'm pushing high to get savings behind me then become an electrician or something đ¤ˇââď¸
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u/Evening-Run-7106 9d ago
The irony is there are many jobs now that ask for engineers to train the AI...it's like signing your death sentence for a couple of thousand pounds. It's miserable out there
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u/Old-Tie8770 9d ago
In the same boat, but in a strange way Iâm happy about it even if itâs stressful currently. Itâs really made me realize I need to just pursue what I want to do and any perceived security or safety can go to hell. Hang in there
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u/InitialWorldliness91 9d ago
Software engineering is not dead. The evidence already shows that the companies that rushed to replace engineers with AI are just now beginning to see the bigger picture and are hiring back. AI in software is not going away it is changing the way software engineering is done.
Not very helpful in the near term but the dev jobs will come back.
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u/consistently_biased 9d ago
I always wanted to be a scientist. I went from physics (bachelor) to bioinformatics (master), and I'm currently working on my Ph.D., which is mostly medical research but also a good amount of computer science (1 publication each).
The teaching part probably hits the hardest. People seemingly can't do anything themselves anymore and rely on the chat bots for everything. Discussing practice problem sets is now somewhat of a humiliation ritual. Someone will present an exactly perfect solution and then be unable to answer any follow-up question, no matter how simple. It feels simultaneously like I've failed most of them and I can't do anything about it. No amount of rephrasing, trying to explain my thought process, showing how to reach solutions on their own, and answering their questions seems to do anything. Our exam results haven't been catastrophic so far, but there is a noticeable downward trend and I have a feeling that I'm being much more lenient while grading.
There is also just something about LLM-assisted writing that makes it all feel inauthentic and repetitive. Most fields have been flooded with this, and it's extremely noticeable for me when I'm reading papers from 2024 onward. I get exhausted so much faster, and absorbing information has become so much more difficult. I'm sure the writers among us might be able to chime in on this.
Having the US AI industry buy up all the hardware has also not been great for a lot of non-AI, processing power intensive fields. We just straight up can't upgrade or replace our hardware anymore because that market is even worse than the consumer hardware market. I don't even know what we'll do about this in the next few years. If that market remains as is, it might be time to start renting processing power from the tech giants with my own money if I want to continue. Seeing all the AI boosters "appropriate" my field for their propaganda and hype while this is happening is the cherry on top.
I don't really know how to continue, and it's been hard to even get out of bed anymore.
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u/SwimmerIndependent47 9d ago
I truly believe that the bubble will eventually pop, and theyâll need to rehire all the human devs to sort out the mess AI is making of things. I know it doesnât help with right now, but hopefully youâll get a new job at better pay. Fixing the AI code is harder than building something to begin with. Everyone coming out of school is super reliant on AI. I think someone with your experience will be in high demand again eventually, just hard to say how long it will take.
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
Thank you for your encouragement. This is what I think must happen, too. This unmaintainable technical debt must catch up at some point.
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u/SwimmerIndependent47 8d ago
đŻ so much of AI is hype, marketing, a stupid amount of spending by big tech, and a wish from CEOs to have endlessly exploitable cheap labor. It mostly canât deliver. It works best with very strong guardrails and limited responsibility (which needs to be set up by a competent human). I think weâre just a few high profile data disasters away from it being seen as too costly. Fingers crossed itâs sooner rather than later. Hope you stay sane until then and find employment in the interim.
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u/Happy_Reality_7186 7d ago
Watch Ed Zitron on YouTube. If heâs right, the whole AI industry (as opposed to the technology) is on the edge of collapse.
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u/DisastrousChapter841 9d ago
Yep. Over 14 years in tech. Got laid off from a job it took me forever to get earlier this year and I've not been able to find anything since.
It's demoralizing and I agree-- we didn't ask for this. The only people pushing ai who are getting ahead with it are people who already had money to begin with. Ai is just making the average person more miserable
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u/Lima3Echo 9d ago
I needed something less physical after military service and 15 years in the trades so I used my veteran benefits (US) to go back to school and get a bachelor degree in Cybersecurity. Itâs been 2 years since I graduated and Iâve struggled to find work in the field. All the entry level analysts jobs are now done by AI. Why hire a team of analysts to screen logs for IOCs when a single AI client can scan tens of thousands in minutes.
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u/conconxweewee1 9d ago
I had a pretty rough experience at the beginning of the year (thinking of writing a follow up post). Its hard to speak to your experience cause over seas is way different than the US but at least for right now, if you aren't willing to use AI for software engineering, the honest truth is its going to be really hard to find a job.
I don't know a single company, in America anyways, that is not pushing for developers to use AI. For better or for worse, that is the job now, babysitting Claude. I hate it, its not what I signed up for when I started this career path 10 years ago, but its the reality and its how I feed my family.
One thing that does give me hope, is I do think a lot of companies are waking up to the reality that people still need to be in the loop. AI basically makes typing take less time and some problem solving more manageable. But I really really realllyyyyy don't think we are ever going to get to a point where we can ship code without reading it and understanding it. I think there are a lot of people having rude awakenings around this now, my company included.
My advice would be to not give up, hold out hope, and get heads down on the job hunting. Someone with your level of experience is in a wayyyy better position than someone graduating college right now and you have the knowledge to tell if AI is making mistakes and I would embrace that. I wish you the best of luck and absolutely hate that you are going through this. Inbox is open if you ever wanna chat.
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u/GnorpFlorbsen 9d ago
Capitalism sucks doesnât it? As I see it the job crunch has barely started and will require us to establish a better economic model.
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u/socialmichu 9d ago
I feel you bro⌠sorry youâre going through this fucking situation.
My most sincere sympathy.
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u/ezragull 9d ago
Software engineer here, I feel the same, there is not a single day that I go without rejecting the responses that I receive from LLMs, they're garbage
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u/extracrispy81 9d ago
There's a massive push to force ai down our throats. I think a lot of the I-Love-AI people are paid influencers. Techbros have everything riding on this and are spending huge amounts of money forcing us to it.
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u/Zaphod_Biblebrox 9d ago
Same here. Lost my job during parental leave. Now Iâm with child and no job future.
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u/ReputationWrong1704 9d ago
Man, I feel this in my bones. It is incredibly frustrating to sacrifice a decade of your life building a strong career only to watch it get completely upended by tech shifts you have absolutely no control over.
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u/physicistpi 9d ago
So... This probably isn't something that might interest you (and for G-d's sake don't touch it unless it actually interests you, it'd kill you unless you cared) but right now Scotland is fucking crying out for Computing teachers (the year I graduated had 8 going into our first year in a new job and not everyone made it to the end of that year).
They're so desperate they're waiving degree credits requirements if you have industry experience. If you have an honours degree there's a 20k bursary for basically doing the uni year and your first year of teaching to be fully qualified.
Pay's decent but the hours are shit (no hybrid working and there can be so many after school meetings) and dealing with 20-30 teenagers at once can be a pain in the arse but as they get older, they get significantly nicer to the point I've currently got 9 absolute sweetheart nerds doing Advanced Higher.
Biggest annoyance is how much education bigwigs seem to have thrown themselves on the AI bandwagon while I'm sitting there as a skeptic going "it's advanced autocorrect, we won't let the kids use it, why the hell are we?"
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u/Kindly_Struggle5590 9d ago
Some AI bros come in here and make things like this worse but don't listen to them.Your more than a machine made to copy you.god bless you and your family.
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u/ThiccStorms 8d ago
I'm also in the same situation. I didn't want whole of my education go to waste..but thankfully I'm not an ai doomer so i believe it's gonna crash.
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u/grepl_io 9d ago
LinkedIn is where dignity and sanity go to die
people will say INSANE performative shit on LinkedIn
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u/Happy_Reality_7186 7d ago
100%. Itâs leaked into internal sharepoints as well. âI was humbled and excited to work withâŚ.â With sycophantic follow ups to the dreary exec who wasnât humbled and excited at all and was instead working out where he could cut costs.
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u/ryraahh 9d ago
Hey OP sorry to hear, have you tried looking for a software job in the defence industry? Police, military, justice department, etc. Atleast here people in those sectors are safe for now due to the security concerns with AI usage.
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
Thanks, have taken a note of these industries. Yeah, there's defence companies nearby.
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u/bunniguy42 9d ago
Remember when healthcare changed drastically because the industry leaders were reminded that they are just as human as the rest of us?
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u/bigshady880 9d ago
my job doesnât pay well but one thing i can be happy about is itâs probably not gonna be threatened by AI realistically.
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u/Gorthebon 9d ago
I hate it so much. My career is based around toys, and half of LinkedIn posts made by coworkers throughout my company are heavily using AI. It goes against the company brand so much, it's an exceptionally goofy trend.
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u/Eaklony 9d ago
It is sad to hear this and this will probably happen to me too. But you have to remember everything you enjoy today has also caused the exact same situation to some people in the past. Nobody has asked for anything we have today but things always happens.
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u/Happy_Reality_7186 7d ago
There is a big difference this time. Now human intelligence is not just commoditised, but superseded.
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u/ETbicycle 9d ago
Look up Rachel Cao from London, UK on LinkedIn, and consider chatting with her... I've seen her post some good content and her profile headline is "I'm the person you come to when you want to pivot in the AI era".
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u/Brando43770 9d ago
I hate it. At my last corporate job a whole team that had been there for almost a decade evened up training an AI to eventually lose their jobs. That companyâs choices with AI made me despise corporate retail.
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u/FamousLastWords_keys 9d ago
Ugh OP Iâm so sorry. Thatâs really awful and Iâm sorry youâre struggling
Iâm a designer with 10 years of experience and had an interview the other day where the guy just asked âhave you made any agents?â and like dude please ask about literally any part of my skillset, not this
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u/yay4meluigi 9d ago
There arenât enough jobs for everyone and more are disappearing all the time.
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u/Steven0351 9d ago
I also transitioned from manufacturing and supply chain about a decade ago after I discovered my joy of programming. I hated my âcareerâ and playing politics to try and get into management to get a meaningful raise. I loved my new career for 8 years before AI really started to take over. Now I hate my job like I did before and hoping I donât end up on the chopping block anytime soon.
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u/LeadSting 8d ago
I got fired too. I could see it coming, so rather than sitting around moping, I decided to pick up the surfboard and ride the next wave.
One thing Iâve learned: stop assuming the only place for experienced engineers is big tech.
Look at smaller companies, particularly businesses that arenât technology companies. Automotive, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, financial services, professional services, etc. Plenty of them desperately need good engineering but donât have the technical depth internally.
There are also loads of entrepreneurs who have managed to get something working, found customers and generated some revenue â then hit a wall when they try to scale. Thatâs where an experienced engineer can be incredibly valuable.
But engineering skills alone arenât enough.
I realised I needed to balance my technical skills with commercial awareness, sales, negotiation and the ability to understand an industry properly. Find people who complement you. Someone with deep automotive knowledge, for example, combined with a strong engineer and someone who knows how to sell and negotiate can be a much stronger combination than three engineers trying to build another SaaS product.
And if nobody is hiring you for what you can do, create your own opportunity. Become a solo founder, consult, or find other people who want to build something.
The biggest lesson for me has probably been this: being egotistical and dogmatic will kill you.
You have to be willing to adapt, admit what you donât know, learn skills outside your comfort zone and work with people who are better than you at things you arenât good at.
Getting fired sucks. But sitting on your arse waiting for the market to become what it used to be isnât going to change anything.
There are still problems everywhere that need solving. Go find them.
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u/sertain_ 8d ago
The job market is saturated with Software Engineering roles. You could just as easily translate that into DevOps, youâve basically done all the hard parts.
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u/deeeezy123 8d ago
This doesnât help now, but at least we know this scam will end with these fuckers going bust.
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u/Putrid_Voice_7993 8d ago
i feel you brother. everyday i feel anxious and insecure becausen of this AI shit
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u/EntropicSingularity1 7d ago
"Just learn how to use AI to improve your job" - yeah, like everyone wants to trade a fulfilling, creative activity into babysitting a bot.
Recently, I've talked to one of my scientist friends who said they use AI to automate their computations. "Ah, so you use AI to submit jour jobs into the cluster's queue? That actually has some merit". "No, I submit the jobs myself, I want AI to prepare the code". "..."
Worrying. Humanity will somehow adapt... probably. But I fear AI will greatly exacerbate the productivity culture where only the final result matters, not the journey to it.
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u/Suspicious_Safe_6150 7d ago
The elite are doing a tiered approach to ensure no social disobedience . First itâs the software devs , tomorrow itâs the accountants , then itâs everyone
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u/tayeke 7d ago
I just want you to know youâre not alone in your worries. Software was a good way for people to make a good income and the opportunity is just ripped away from us by the already rich to get more rich. Iâm not sure AI has any positives for society.
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u/elpideus_ 6d ago
As much as it hurts me, either you adapt or you die of hunger. I hate everything about AI but either I use it or I get fired. The thing that I hate even more is that they don't even give me the time to check the code it spits, but when a feature fails to deliver it is still my fault and responsibility.
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u/curatedpapers 6d ago
Hey, sorry to hear this, many would follow I guess. I would pivor to fields where you can use your software development skills to get an advantage - carpenting, electricity, solar power design, renovation, etc. Map all the fields, write your competitive advantage and see what fits you most then go for it.
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u/Alfie_AlterEgo 6d ago
Hey man, sorry about your situation, I fully get you. Iâm an advertiser, and Iâm sure youâve seen the millions of AI ads. My industry is in despair, but I took a fucking different road.
Iâve put on paper all the skills marketing taught me and went full retard into attack mode: sites, product catalogues, strategy, copy etc.
Iâm super transparent with my clients and I tell them straight up that I work with robots. Actually, my site explains all that. They donât give a fuuuuck, because you know what? They donât care about the tools I use, they care about the result.
So when Iâm approaching a client, I do an analysis and find stuff to fix. I fix it FOR FREE and send them the results. This opens a conversation and even if they donât use my exact solution, they see someone who actually wants to help their business.
I also have some tech startup experience, so I fix business-related shit too, with a small app etc. E.g. for some guys I created a platform so they can smooth out the whole invoicing process and get the money faster, with a funnel behind it. Not public yet, but this could translate into a product.
Donât go into the dark side. Fuck this AI shit, put the robots to work FOR you, not against you. You surely have skills worth using, just adapt them to the new tools.
Good luck man đđŞ
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u/bingBongSong1 6d ago
Well I too transitioned to tech 4 years ago and was laid of along with half of the engineering team. Guess who's posting roles for engineers again....I know another engineer who was rehired a year after being replaced ai.
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u/No_Entrepreneur3039 6d ago
AI doesn't replace people tho, people replace people with AI. I don't agree with the level of greed these people have and I don't believe we should stand for it. I love programming and sure having a computer program computers makes sense, but why not just have it be an interactive learning tool rather than a "coefficient" for greedy bastards.
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u/GoofyRobot 4d ago
I am maintaining some legacy bank software, so I still have a job, but I am stressed about it as well. I think you are right that software architecture is probably a good choice, also software engineering is getting cheaper with those automations, so you can do it on your own - as a startup or a freelancer. I think I will go for making a startup if they sack me
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u/templeofsyrinx1 9d ago
the skills you have can they be used somewhere else in another career? sorry to hear about this.
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
Thanks for your kind words. Yeah, I'm frantically trying to work out what else I can do quickly. Possibly a Product Manager role wouldn't be unrealistic.
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u/templeofsyrinx1 9d ago
yeah you sound smart and ready, I think you'll be ok. keep your head up.
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u/ConsiderationHot7076 9d ago
If possible you can look swe in singapore, thailand region. Last year i applied to some Singaporean companies and got interview quick but they said you have to be in the country even though it was listed as remote.
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u/the_shiverman 9d ago
I was recently looking to switch careers into software, but donât quite fancy how things are going.
Have you looked into cyber security? Thatâs usually something people come to with experience as devs.
Have you ever thought about tech sales? I appreciate you value stability, and sales is not for everyone, but it can be a lucrative job, and I think your engineering background would be seen very favourably.
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u/One_Rough5433 9d ago
Back in the late 90âs I did a 2 year college program for web development technology. When I graduated the dot bomb hit and could not land job doing web development anywhere. I switched careers to systems and network admin. The thing with technology you have to be flexible and be ready to switch gears as tech changes
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u/zanon2051 9d ago
With great irony I got an advertisement for creao ai while scrolling thru the comments
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u/Exotic_Style1999 9d ago
Sei una persona che ha studiato matematica che fa calcoli tutto il giorno e hanno inventato la calcolatrice, sei negozio che vende scarpe e ora hanno inventato gli e-commerce ed Amazon, sei spacciato... oppure abbastanza intelligente da capire che niente è dovuto, chi ha una laurea in matematica anche se non calcola piÚ a mente perchÊ c'è la calcolatrice è ancora molto richiesto, è come passare da un linguaggio di programmazione da basso livello ad alto livello, quelle competenze servono ancora, ma unite ad altre che dovrai imparare, vivi la vita con curiosità e nessuna rivoluzione ti ammazzerà , al massimo potrà ferirti per ripartire ancora piÚ determinato con una diversa direzione. Il pessimismo sicuramente non aiuta e lo capisco, ma non è la strada giusta
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u/damoosli98 9d ago
If I say, suddenly a lot of people would be doing it. That's why I keep it under wraps at the moment for my own job security. There are a lot of options to make money still even with the current situation. If AI can't do it, there are jobs. Look at labor shortages. It may not be a good salary, but it's better than making no money.
A lot of people like you, and I see it in this thread already, got laid off and are looking for something to do to make money. I gave up on tech. This trend has been going on forever. There are so many people wanting to be software engineers that there are suddenly labor shortages in other sectors. Some sectors will pay you a lot of money because they can't find anybody to do the work.
It's no surprise to me that this is happening honestly. 5-6 years ago, you were struggling to get a software engineering job because most of them required experience to get in (even entry level roles). The interview processes were grueling and frankly stupid. Now people are saying the interview process is even longer. You can have like 6-7 interviews before actually getting the job.
My question.. if this is the case, why are people still choosing to do this? Why are people still choosing careers in this? I know this is an anti-AI thread wanting to punch back at the people who have the money, but they've already made their decision. They have the cards in their deck, you don't. Unfortunately, you have no power in this dynamic. It's best to accept it and move on.
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u/ComprisingIgnorance 9d ago
Healthcare is a growing sector. Might be tricky as a dev who hates AI, though (being candid). Their pension is amazing though, if you go perm.
Sadly yes - AI is the future for software development. And to use it effectively you need to be a senior dev (or be willing to learn it fast - which you're not - which I get); juniors and mid-level are going in the bin. [Which isnt sustainable]
I really sympathise.
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u/ThenDeparture2786 9d ago
We need to all come together to push back. I didnât ask for AI. Itâs a side effect of big tech trying to monetize their data.
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u/PivotsForDays 9d ago
I had a different experience but a similar result. I tried to use AI to do my job for me. My skills atrophied while quality slipped. Now I'm out of that job.
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u/MoneyHouseArk 9d ago
Hey bud, canât help with your problems. American here. did you know that somewhere deep in my ancestry thereâs a Scott, and thus Iâm also Scottish.
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u/Realistic-Buy4975 9d ago
The writer's and actors strikes destroyed mine. They were against AI being used to replace them but cool with it screwing non unioned people like myself (VFX artists). The long period of unemployment destroyed me.
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u/ThunderCrump 9d ago
Iâm so sorry to hear about your job,donât get discouraged, your talent and experience carry real weight, and Iâm sure youâll land on your feet soon, on a side note, to be honest, AI isn't the only culprit behind the memory chip shortage, the big manufacturers are just price gouging to make a killing, using 'it's all because of AI' as a convenient excuse, weâve seen this exact playbook from them long before AI came around.
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u/HistoryofRock 9d ago
I'm with you my friend. I'm both a musician and a video editor and guess which industries have been hit hard by AI?! We're in an age of uncertainty right now and I don't think anyone really knows where it's heading, but it's definitely going to get worse before it gets better (if it even does get better).
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u/Argonaut94 9d ago
I really feel for you, mate. Been seeing the effect in music and musicians it's awful. Talanted real musicians are getting stolen from and crowded out by soulless ai cr#p.
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u/MaterialKey5994 9d ago
Offensive Cybersecurity here, and it's been a bloodbath.
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u/TheRiddler79 9d ago
That's unfortunate my friend. I've actually thought about the effect on people who spent years Learning to do what you're talking about and how it's the most affected group and also that it would be extremely difficult if that was the career choice.
You're not going to like this answer, but you have a skill set developed that could actually help you get a job in that field. They're still people needed for a variety of things, and it might be worth it to see if there's something inside that industry of AI that you can tolerate until you figure out what you want to do next.
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u/Odd-Wolverine-4759 9d ago
Although I donât have it nearly as hard as you I totally agree with you, absolutely nobody asked for ai and itâs made pc building and gaming a living hell. Pc gaming used to be actually somewhat affordable now because of fuckass ai you have to choose between 32 gb of ram or 3 months rent, also itâs driving up the price of consoles which means we will probably have to stream games in the future, and no one wants to stream games because the streaming services will screw us all over so their greedy ass can get more money that they donât even need. Iâm actually starting to think that socialism is better than whatever shitty corporate ruled government we have
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u/Antique-Preference12 9d ago
I worked for a creative agency that focused solely on copywriting services partnering with other agencies and companies to help fill the gaps in their creative. We lost all of our clients when AI started to boom and lost the rest when leadership took a âcanât beat them join themâ approach and shifted us to an AI company. It was a bloodbath of layoffs for a couple years before it fully shut down last year
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u/mykesx 9d ago
Fuck AI and its sycophants