I'm kind of sick of being a dev. I hate AI with a passion.

I hate the hallucinations, I hate slop, I hate megacrops, I hate the environmental impacts, I hate the massive costs. I could go on but you get the picture.

At work I often times have to review vibe code slop from people who clock in 9 to 5 and don't give a fuck (I respect that, I just wish your fucking code wasn't slop)

I'm sick of it, I'm sick of hearing about AI tooling or new models or bro agentic actions bro based on your documentation bro.

I want to switch careers, so which career is not ruined by AI?

Also a software eng (for now), genuinely thinking of starting my own barbershop lmao.

Any careers that involve blagging and bullshitting your way through life on the works of others. In fact it's actually enhanced by AI.

Anything that requires physical work. Manufacturing, trades, etc... But, there's the caveat that AI may still indirectly affect these too.

Construction

Join us, become a tradie. Get a company vehicle. Work with your hands. Become enough of an expert in your trade that you can tell customers to go fuck themselves if they're dicks. Have every company in the area be desperate to hire you because every trade is short handed. Work with people who barely understand the concept of a computer. Spend half of every paycheck on milwalkee packout tool boxes. Never have to work with AI again.

My preference is HVAC-R but plumber or electrician are also good choices. Building automation may seem attractive but then you're getting close to the AI danger zone again.

End user IT support at any state, county, or city. It's only gonna get busier, plus you can tinker with hardware

Ironically, the three trades you listed are in high demand right now specifically because of the rapid rollout of the data centers needed to power AI.

There is the (more difficult) option of finding a dev job for an older tech conservative company. My workplace has just barely rolled out access to copilot chat. Our devs are still doing things without the slop.

Look at the more heavily regulated business sectors, they tend to be more resistant to tech fads.

I find myself increasingly annoyed at having to grant copilot licenses for people who are inexplicably overjoyed to have them.

I'm in tech but in the non-profit sector. For what we do, there is virtually no use case for ai. I basically just make sure everything runs properly. No one is expecting me to turn out code that will turn into profits. I'm not rolling in the dough like a lot of tech workers, but im not micromanaged, I get to make all the decisions, and im not working for an evil corporation. So I suggest looking at non profits. They are typically run by people who know very little about tech. You'll be an easy hire if your resume is as good as it sounds.

I think you'll be heavily affected by AI in that field as well. From possibly having LLMs as a first level support agent (already common in corporate customer support) to having to help people who messed up their PCs by letting their AI agents have full access etc.

Anything that's based on physical work or human contact. Trades, medical/social work, psychology, emergency workers...

I feel ya. But the pendulum will probably swing back the other way soon and we’ll have a ton of companies hiring to undo/replace slop code. That’s how it has been for previous coding fads, anyway.

And then never use it :D

First thing you do is realize that AI ain't as great as they want you to believe. Physical work is probably the best way to avoid AI completely, but eventually the hype will die down, so if you still want to work in IT, maybe something like a data technician or IT support?

Firefighter.
Willing to bet AI won’t touch it anytime soon.

My BIL started brewing beer for a local brewery after he retired from the Army.

Electricians baby. The nervous system of the ai.

Wish I could tell ya. Im like just old enough that changing careers is rather monuental since I don't really have time enough to get established. Something has to eventually give with the ai. either it goes away which I doubt or we need to restructure our societies.

Speaking of which... when we get there with our pitchforks and burn down the data centers, could you give us a 20 minutes lead?

A couple of thoughts on this as a union electrician: for starters AI is absolutely having an (arguably negative) impact on manpower fulfillment. In my area the massive expansion of data centers is causing a manpower shortage for all projects not funded by massive tech companies. This is complicated because it's inflating income for tradesmen due to demand, but it's also pressuring workers into ridiculous schedules (think 4x10s, 2x8s, and most Sundays) and is forcing contractors that aren't running data center work to completely rework their payment structure and bid practices. Many of these sites are also a 1-2 hour commute for a large number of tradies. A lot of these guys have been gaslit for decades into thinking working more OT somehow makes them a better person.

Beyond that, while I haven't personally seen it yet AI will absolutely begin worming its way into design; a process already riddled with issues and errors largely due to time constraints. Clients are going to want work done faster and cheaper, which will pressure design teams into using AI tools in the name of expediency, which will lead to more errors in the construction process, leading to inflated costs and likely problematic installations.

That's not even getting into the future of AI robotics which absolutely will be impacting our tradesmen directly in the near future.

It's coming for us too.

I'm picking up furniture making. Handcrafted furniture will always be needed

I work a physical/tactile job in healthcare. My job won't be in danger until robotics dramatically advance and cheapen. AI could conceptually do my job, but the physicality is missing. A lot of healthcare careers are this way. Not all of them are though, so be wise in your choice!

Psychology? A lot of folks are already using ai as a virtual therapist

What? Ikea wrecked that a long time ago. Not that you can't make a living but the demand isn't high in any way whatsoever. Hand crafted furniture has become a luxury.

I'm not an electrician, but I have a relative that is. You nailed it. We've got a couple DCs going up near by, and he was asked to commit to a 2 year commitment for just one of them, working exactly the hours you said. He agreed because I think they are paying double time for all OT, and that's good money. They asked if he wanted to sign on for the other DC but he declined for the obvious time reasons. It's definitely had an effect on available workers for other projects since seemingly all hand are on deck.

I'm not familiar with the architecting process, but I can absolutely see how AI will be, if not already, involved with generating plans. It will shit something out faster than anyone could create it, but it will lose that value in review and the inevitable mistakes that make it through. AI is a cancer

a career in poisoning AI

Hand crafted furniture has become a luxury

So you make more money selling them. I see no issues.

Anything that's done on site or with your hand. Forget about working from home or having your own hours though, most of the benefits you are used to won't exist and it will be arguably harder work physically depending.

I'd pick something that can't be automated since that's also a risk even if it's not directly AI. That means something to complicated for robots (not much), too big or messy, where it can't be trusted entirely to robots (high safety like making plane parts) or most likely where robots can't easily go (house plumbing and electricity for example).

A lot of trades and manual work pay very well but you have to look before hand, it's definitely not all of them. Cooking jobs for example are pretty safe but don't ever become a cook lol.

If you have dev experience, I'd go towards micro electronics. It's too niche for AI to be good at it yet and has the physical part of prototyping and soldering that isn't easily accessible by AI.

I feel this. I relatively recently pivoted into dev work for my career. I really enjoy it because we haven't forced AI into our workflows... Yet. We had a couple devs run an experiment to see who could finish an app first, where one generated as much as they could and another did it all manually. It wasn't even close. The manual job was faster to completion and good.

Unfortunately for me, my time is being split and I've been tasked to upskill on all of the different automation and AI tools that we have, because dumbass VPs drank the Kool aid, bought shit, and didn't hire experience to configure and run those tools. I've been reading so much garbage trying to master copilot studio, and honestly it's the worst product I've ever had to work with. I'm going to be having a heart to heart with my manager in the near future, and if I'm still stuck on the AI shit, I'm bouncing. I'll use what time I have to bolster my dev skills and leaving. If I can't find a dev job, it looks like I'll be pivoting my career again, and I've been thinking something like electrician. Honest work, not has hard on the body as say construction, and I feel it could still be mentally engaging compared to some other trades.

God speed on your future endeavors. Fuck AI.

The market for high quality furniture never went away. And if we enter a global depression, a local furniture maker will again be a necessity

The issue is in finding buyers who have enough money to spend on those luxury goods.

If we enter a depression, people will have less money to spend on luxuries. I just think the percentage of people buying hand made furniture is kind of low. I think most people "buy" them from friends and family doing it as a semi-hobby, or are rich, at least in my experience.

Not trying to be overly critical, just saying it's not easy.

As a side note, I've noticed no one makes nice wooden informational kiosks with integrated touch screen even though orgs like museums would likely buy them over plastic and metal ones. Just an idea if you were looking for a niche product.

I feel like luxury goods are harder to get into in terms of career change and it's a bit off to characterize them as always needed.

[off topic?]

I recommend this book to anyone thinking about a career change.

"Discover What You Are Best At." Linda Gail. Six self tests you can finish in half a day, and a list of jobs that use those skills. Jobs range from zero new training to post college.

Really helped me when I was looking for career advice.

Naturally you can ask LeChat and you will probably get a sensible answer ;-) but in general jobs that deal with real people (sales, consulting, project management, politics, …) and real things (e.g. electrician, construction, gardener, creator of beautiful items (furniture, art), mechanic…)

No issues, just become a master craftsmen and compete with other master craftsmen. Easy.

That is the equivalent of saying "we don't need doctors since we can put bandaids on wounds"

Psychology is about a lot more that what LLMs can do

Doesn't mean psychology can't be ruined by AI anyway.

I did this 9 years ago. I make 2/3rds of what I did in software, but I don't regret it. pivoted to environmental work. My job satisfaction is like, a thousand percent better.

I was an EMT going to school for cyber security. I had done all my gen eds and was just starting the actual computer classes when I realized how this all was going to go and decided that the money wasn't worth dealing with the tech world and the risk of constant layoffs. Got my Advanced EMT, dropped out of college, and am going to be going back to school to get my paramedic certs. Pay is not nearly as good as a career in tech and the hours are insane, but if you have a pulse and a cert you'll always be able to find a job somewhere (and if it gets to the point that you can't, everyone else has already been fucked over).

I'm in building maintenance. It's not affected at all by AI. Most of the trades are safe. Basically anything which would require both advanced LLM and advanced robotics to replace.

Plumbing is fairly safe from any kind of automation and also well paid.

They do use robots for pipe inspection and minor repairs, but that's about the extend of what the clankers will ever be able to do.

I said necessity, not luxury... If we enter a global depression, there won't be cheap IKEA furniture anymore

Alas, they're not paying for that. They're not paying for what they need to achieve their goals either.

I'm so tired of my skill and income being beholden to the whims of bullshit artists though.

Bring back guilds.

Just be careful of people who volunteer at non profits. Most will be good, but since they're not getting paid, their motivation may be strongly ego driven. That can be problematic.

Can you say any more about the type of environmental work?

AI will never be able to throw bricks at cops. Something to consider