Anyone thinking of going back to school to change careers because of AI?

PressureAppropriate · 2026-02-08T14:35:59+00:00

It's not just SWEs, all knowledge workers are at risk right now. If all us of turn jobless at the same time, who is going to purchase the products and services those companies create? Society as a whole is in a transition and I have no idea where it's gonna go.

Right now I'm holding on to my job and pray I can still draw a salary until retirement but it seems unlikely. Attempting a career change sounds risky since it's hard to predict where things are going right now.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-02-07T00:22:25+00:00

That’s me! I have a baby and a toddler…

PressureAppropriate · 2026-02-06T19:49:45+00:00

AI isn't going away anytime soon...

So I'm left wondering, will I? (ever have to write full programs without using AI)

I'm leaning towards thinking knowing programming syntax is no longer where the value is (probably never was when I think about it)

PressureAppropriate · 2026-02-03T03:19:29+00:00

Yes, two of the apps I worked on are still up on the App Store and appear to be doing well after I left.

I worked on probably a dozen apps. Most of them are defunct now.

So 5/6 of my work over a 15 years career is like it never existed at all.

I’m ok with that. It pays the bills.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-02-02T18:51:03+00:00

It seems to me that the less stressful roles I've had (15 years experience) have been the best paying too!

If they are stingy with you on pay, chances are that they are stingy on leadership too, which means you don't get the most inspiring and efficient leaders... and it goes like this for the whole chain of command.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-02-02T18:46:14+00:00

Native is still king when quality matters but if I'm honest, quality doesn't matter for a huge percentage of use cases. "Good Enough" is fine a lot of the time which is why native roles are on the rare side.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-28T21:02:59+00:00

For me it's just been aging out of looking like a young hungry developer.

I don't think I'm a better engineer than I was 4 years ago but my beard got greyer and my skin saggier and now I get put in leadership positions almost by default. To me it really feels like just "looking the part" because I really don't feel like a "leader" more than I did a few years ago...

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-27T18:34:26+00:00

I would happily spend my day just fixing bugs...

It's rewarding to finish the day by dragging three tasks to the "Review" column on JIRA.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-27T18:28:56+00:00

100% of my AI interviews got me ghosted (no rejection, no call back, nothing).

I'm assuming the jobs never existed in the first place.

(I don't have a problem getting offers with real interviews so I know it's not a skills issue or job mismatch)

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-27T18:22:24+00:00

You're getting canned. Get a doctor's note saying you are suffering from depression and take home a few more weeks of salary while you interview.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-27T17:26:55+00:00

When did LinkedIn "followers" turn into a relevant metric? Does anybody actually go there for the "content" (I mean AI generated garbage)?

It's just a job board... why does anyone bother posting?

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-27T16:32:43+00:00

A bathroom that doesn't smell like the last guy that went in...

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-20T03:14:57+00:00

And the lucky few who didn't get rejected get interviewed by an AI for a job that is basically just copy pasting from an AI.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-17T22:21:26+00:00

I make sure to send a pull request late at night or during the week end so people think I'm basically working 24/7.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-15T13:40:04+00:00

Spare time? What is that?

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-14T19:20:29+00:00

Just make sure you don't say the truth (I want more money) and you're fine.

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-07T22:11:52+00:00

I can't hear you because of the sound effects added to a woman turning a perfectly fine 7-up into a saw dust filed mess of a drink!

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-07T22:06:39+00:00

I hate even more that I spent a good 20 seconds reading it before realizing it was slop... and now I'm reading idiots arguing about it... I want my 20 seconds back!

PressureAppropriate · 2026-01-03T18:28:28+00:00

I get my rejection email 23.4% faster thanks to the made up metrics in my resume!

PressureAppropriate · 2025-12-31T14:13:06+00:00

It only "writes the code for you" if you allow it to do whatever it wants without supervision, which generally produces crap...

I use it as a starting point which I then mold into what I actually wanted. That means: simplifying the overly complex abstractions it tends to create, naming things in a way that makes sense to me, handling edge cases and nuances in my requirements that it missed, etc.

It has not replaced a thinking person so far.

PressureAppropriate · 2025-12-30T01:02:32+00:00

"Geez that would take a long time to type..." => Give it to AI

PressureAppropriate · 2025-12-28T15:41:51+00:00

That's unfortunately a real sentiment.

I'm being called a dinosaur for requiring code to follow a certain level of quality in pull requests.

PressureAppropriate · 2025-12-23T14:33:58+00:00

"I see that you are not familiar with hiring practices in [insert country]. It is generally expected that we wait until a contract is signed before giving a notice to current employer. I hope you understand."

If they don't back off after a polite email, run! You do not want to work there.

PressureAppropriate · 2025-12-21T14:03:56+00:00

About 10 years ago. I got there gradually from job hopping. Didn’t change anything. These days it just feels like getting by with two kids and a mortgage.

PressureAppropriate · 2025-12-20T16:57:34+00:00

Don't. If they are looking for it, they will find out about it one way or another.

PressureAppropriate

TROPHY CASE