TL;DR: I’m one of the many developers going through a big career transition right now. I’d like to hear what others think about whether work in AI and deep learning is still realistic for someone in my situation.
Hello everyone!
I’m Anthony. I graduated with my BSCS in 2021 and worked for about two years as a web developer, sometimes at small companies and sometimes for myself on platforms like Upwork. I came to tech later in life than most, going back to school at 28 and earning my degree six years later. At the beginning of this year I lost my last client, and I haven’t been able to get back in the saddle since. Sometimes that was because job postings were beyond my skills, but most of the time it was because anxiety about the rise of AI had me paralyzed. Many times I just couldn’t get myself to code, learn, or apply, because one thought kept coming back: “What’s the point?”
When OpenAI launched ChatGPT to mass acclaim in 2022, the message was “use AI to get better.” I think a different message is starting to form now, one that sounds more like “there will be a few lucky ones, but most people will have to move to different careers.” That only confirms my worries. I never made it to senior, didn’t graduate from the Ivy League, and will most likely never be a top-tier dev. I’m just a normal guy who wanted to be a developer for a living.
Since graduating, my first child was born and I had to make a living. So I took a job at Telle Tire as a front-end service advisor. I have to be honest: I’m not at all where I’d like to be in life. I feel wasted here. I have so many skills that feel like they were a waste to learn and will only become less relevant as time goes on.
To get back into tech, I’ve tried everything I can think of. I’ve networked in developer communities, paid for mentorship, and I’m still pushing myself through courses like the Deep Learning Specialization. But even now, the voice in my head tells me I’m wasting my time. It’s not because the material isn’t good. It’s because it feels like the field of software engineering is disappearing altogether.
I’d like to hear how others think about the future of development, and about the future of humans in computer science at all. I know a lot of people plan to use this tech to start a business, but I’d especially like to hear from developers who work, or have worked, in this space professionally. Assuming I have common skills and common intelligence, am I wasting my time?