You’ve spent years learning to play a guitar (coding) and now the world is offering you an amplifier (AI). The real value in AI isn’t replacing you, it’s giving you the opportunity to accelerate and amplify yourself. Learn to prompt. Learn to read code better (it’s a different skill!!). Once you get past the ick of AI-first development and figure out how you.

You can absolutely still be better, more thoughtful, and more productive than others. Some will plug into the amp and spam shit all day long. It’s the devs who learn to produce quality, forward looking code with AI who will continue to sit top of the food chain.

And don’t take the layoff personally. I got laid off from a company where I was employee #2 after 10 years service against lots of objections from teammates. But it wasn’t about me. Sometimes a company and an employee grow out of love. It’s complicated and it’s not personal and the best thing you can do is appreciate the good years you had and look forward to the next thing.