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?
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I’m an electrical engineer and I deal mostly with medical equipment. Not even this field is safe. People are going to die.
Architecture is the other one that worries me. I don’t like the idea of unknowingly walking around in a building that was designed by AI. I work with AI and it can’t even be trusted to write a blog post correctly, let alone design a building that’s safe. And I know if I’m thinking of that now, it means someone else has already thought of and attempted it at least 6 months ago.
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.
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.
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 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
And say goodbye to your knees!
Largely agreed, but if large-scale social problems flood the trades then we have another problem on our hands.
I’m thinking about finishing out my career with that kind of transition.
I’ve always done various office work and have been good at it, but I know I’m on borrowed time.
At some point in the next 1-3 years, they’ll automate 90%+ of what I’m doing, and I’ll be out the door. And being late 40s, with the job market being what it is, and admittedly me not skilling up much most of the last decade or so… I have I just don’t have what’s needed to get back to work in favorable conditions once that inevitable canning happens.
Fortunately, I have a friend of the family who’s a long time HVAC guy, and the company he works for has been short handed for quite a while. I figure if I start training up in the very near future, I’ll be able to transition over without too many issues, and If I’m careful, I won’t have to beat myself up too much in the decade or so before I retire.
I think the powers that be have an ultimate goal of combining AI and robotics to automate the trades too, but they are much further away on that… it should be a safe space for long enough.
I’m a tax lawyer. I’m gonna be very busy fixing the messes people make using AI-assisted do-it-yourself tax planning lol. And by fixing I mean telling them to beg for penalties to be forgiven lol
AI will never be able to throw bricks at cops. Something to consider
Do you get dental?
The settlement money from the city after I get my eyes blown out by “less lethal” rounds tends to cover it.
You’re from Stuttgart
Im not sure if this a meme or an accusation. But I am not, neither the one in Germany or Arkansas.
It just so happened that in Stuttgart there were protests and police in fact did blow one guy’s eye out of the socket in a very similar way you said.
I thought that you’re referring to that.
No :( only vision to ensure good aim
A drone with a cord goes a long way.
“AI can’t replace you but an AI salesman can convince your boss to replace you will AI.”
I was going to say my industry, sewer and water but now they’re forcing cameras with AI in them into our with vehicle to “save on insurance.” More like spy on us and figure out why we’re messing around with one fire hydrant so long.
I hate it here.
I’m a local truck driver for a smallish local trucking company. My company installed new dash cams with both internal and external cameras. Every truck I know has at the internal camera at least covered in tape, if not removed completely (Mine is gone completely). If my company required the internal cameras, at least half the fleet would likely quit and it would be catastrophic for the company.
One of the perks of the job is being alone and just chilling out most of the day. You don’t get to watch me.
I find it unreal that this is legal. This is why we need unions.
I have coals in the fire for unionizing my industry. Waiting until later this year where I have a better financial situation as a backup plan in case I need to do it unemployed.
But when I’m done, my friends and co-workers will be unionized.
Good luck!
I’ve grown up in a country where unions are as natural as air. The unions are so strong that there basically is very limited employment laws - and no minimum wage; there’s just not need for the state to intervene that much because unions are EVERYWHERE. And yes, a Big Mac meal costs a fortune because employees actually have to make a living. I’m ok with it.
Funny enough, our entire industry is unionized except for our sector. From the producers to the plants, everyone is protected except for what we do. It shouldn’t be difficult to get us unionized but it’s still a rather uphill battle. And talking to some of my co-workers, everyone is willing but I’m the only one taking the lead on it.
Yeah I’m moving across the country soon so it won’t be my problem but 3/4 of the people who work there are already looking for jobs because of other micromanaging shit that’s started happening. We’re the highest producing, lowest issue location and all of a sudden they’re treating us like toddlers. Everyone is pissed.
I’m a highly intelligent person. It’s always been both infuriating and absolutely dumbfounded how management of a company can have all the information on how their company is run, how employee interviews, evaluations, and observations occur, how profit growth vs expenditures relate to each other, and still sit down in a board room together and not only brainstorm, but literally agree to an idea that makes their company fucking worse in every possible way, and piss off everyone who is why they’re in this position.
I will never understand it. Especially with my company who doesn’t have shareholders or shit. We’re a completely private and insular company. We’re family owned. And yet they still make decisions that hurt them by pissing off the people that work for them.
It’s fascinating.
Yeah that’s the same setup as my company. I have a feeling, because I’ve been here before, that the owner of my company is looking to sell. This is exactly what we went through at my last company and then they announced that they sold out. Oddly enough 5 of us all worked at that place. I’m really really beyond sick of private equity.
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.
Can you say any more about the type of environmental work?
I started over doing entry level spray tech work treating exotic plants through americorps and worked my way up. I do a lot of field data collection and gis work now. So, I still utilize my old software skills. I work for my local government doing environmental land management.
GIS is definitely a software adjacent job that is utilized a lot in land management. But that isn’t the initial route I took. I really did just kind of started over.
Thank you for sharing
Anything that’s based on physical work or human contact. Trades, medical/social work, psychology, emergency workers…
Psychology? A lot of folks are already using ai as a virtual therapist
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
so is art or even programming for that matter, but here we are.
Doesn’t mean psychology can’t be ruined by AI anyway.
Correct, we don’t need Doctors for every scrape in the exact same way that I can explain a social situation to a LLM and it can help by referencing back to published literature on that particular topic, suggesting clear guidelines as to how to move forward. Sure there are also broken arms and cancer exists, but the base level (and moving up the chain) is absolutely coming for Psych work.
Anything that requires physical work. Manufacturing, trades, etc… But, there’s the caveat that AI may still indirectly affect these too.
Idk maybe I’m wrong, but this feels like more of a hiring issue than AI. You should still be hiring good engineers, and you shouldn’t incentivize them to go so fast that they have to vibe code everything. Let good engineers use AI if they want, and not use it if they don’t want to. If their code is bad, it’s their fault, not the tools they are using.
CEO
I’m a lathe operator. No AI there yet. And my lathe runs Linux too…
Inference of 3D models exists. Combined with a rule deck of what the machine is capable of (i.e. so tools aren’t broken) I think you could be very close to “prompt to object” prototyping flows — if they don’t already exist.
Still might need a pair of hands to clean up.
Now, how many botched tries are people willing to to pay the material cost of, who knows?
CAD specialist.
It’s gonna be a while, but I don’t expect it to be completely safe.
My backup is construction management which I am also very much qualified to do. I very much doubt that’s in any danger in the near future.
If both of those get completely taken over by AI, I’ll revert to being a carpenter. Not ideal, but if that gets taken over by AI, we’re at the point where workers have become entirely obsolete, at which point either universal basic income is a thing, or it’s time for a violent uprising against our AI overlords.
An interesting thing about CAD is that the field got decimated in the switch to computers. You can choose to either go up the technical chain to be a great detailer or progress in CAD management since Autodesk and Bentley only do so much
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.
Prostitution.
I am not saying it’s the ideal career choice for most people, however it isn’t something ruined by AI…
And there are opportunities to progress into a madam or pimp. Plus you get a funky hat with a feather, I’m unsure how this process goes though (I would imagine there must be some sort of application process for the hat).I actually think you are on to something here as I feel like there will always be people who desire to be with a “real human”.
That said if they ever developed something like a holodeck in real life I can see it making a dent in the industry.
Like morally I’m completely fine with prostitution, although in practice consent is hugely important for me, and you can never be truly certain if they are being coerced into the practice by a pimp/madam/other extenuating circumstance. With a computer consent really becomes a non issue, and thus a little more “morally okay”.
