I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years • Hacker News Board

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#31

Post by bdcravens » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:53 AM UTC

Insanity wrote: post #4

In “Ask HN style”, let’s say that software engineering does go extinct in the next X years, what would you do? I’ve thought about psychology. I know LLMs can work as pseudo-therapists but I feel like that’s a field where the human connection / human element will remain important.

Now is the time to start thinking about being more than just IC, and thinking in terms of an entrepreneur. Call it a "lifestyle business" or whatever, but what can we work toward today that enables us to call the shots? Just don't fall down the trap of making it developer-related.

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#32

Post by vishnugupta » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:54 AM UTC

Out of curiosity I checked out the author’s resume and this is their current position. Oh the irony!!

I built significant pieces of the Copilot onboarding, purchasing, billing and settings flow. For eight months I headed up the Copilot anti-abuse effort. I then led the launch of GitHub Models, and am now working on other Copilot projects.

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#33

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:55 AM UTC

gherkinnn wrote: post #24

Maybe the act of writing code will die. I still have hope that the act of transforming ideas and vibes in to something that works remains valuable. The means might change but the end remains.

[deleted]

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#34

Post by ThrowawayR2 » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:56 AM UTC

parpfish wrote: post #16

ninju wrote: post #2

> It sucks. I miss feeling like my job was secure, ... The wheel of industry rolls forward and crushes everyone underneath it

i've been advocating for developers to unionize for years, and there'd always be a big group saying "we don't need a union". AI-based job displacement will do wonders for raising class consciousness when it's too late. the best time to unionize is when you don't need a union.

Didn't save the U.S. auto industry and it isn't going to save the software industry either.

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#35

Post by FirstClassTree » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:56 AM UTC

You have many errors and I personally find the writing style pretentious.

For example: Software engineer role is about automating people -> often not.

That just indicates lack of rigor. Also, if so. Who will make the ai automate people? GOD? People think poorly understood theory and gradient descent will produce God.

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#36

Post by bdcravens » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:56 AM UTC

I appreciate that this article is doing what few in our space do: acknowledging that software has long been the tool to put people out of work (though that process is wrapped in softer terms like "optimization" and "disruption"), and we're only the inevitable targets of the same machinery we helped build.

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#37

Post by travisgriggs » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:57 AM UTC

“My job” is an oxymoron. It was never your job. Your employer has always made it clear that they, not you, own the job.

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#38

Post by operatingthetan » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:58 AM UTC

margalabargala wrote: post #12

ehnto wrote: post #9

I can relate, I was really looking forward to settling into mentorship roles. However I am not quite so defeated, I think that developers will continue to find employment in tech even as AI augments the roles. Experienced developers are the obvious pick for a hire to run agentic AI development tools, and even the obvious pick for managing a no-code endgame scenario as they are just smart technologists with strong pro…

My favorite hope about AI is that it will finally kill leetcode interviews.

I haven't figured out how this is going to go yet. I see a lot of jobs asking for experience in stuff that is no longer necessary. I'm just going 100% all in on vibe coding and architecture.

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#39

Post by rvz » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:58 AM UTC

vishnugupta wrote: post #32

Out of curiosity I checked out the author’s resume and this is their current position. Oh the irony!! I built significant pieces of the Copilot onboarding, purchasing, billing and settings flow. For eight months I headed up the Copilot anti-abuse effort. I then led the launch of GitHub Models, and am now working on other Copilot projects.

No wonder GitHub is always collapsing every week.

Tay.ai, Zoe and Copilot bots being deployed wrecking the platform being unable to fix infrastructure issues whilst the humans are just tweaking all the tiniest issues.

They should instead focus on GitHub actions and improving the uptime of the whole platform first before doing anything AI.

Re: I don't know if my job will still exist in ten years

#40

Post by 6510 » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 5:59 AM UTC

vishnugupta wrote: post #32

Out of curiosity I checked out the author’s resume and this is their current position. Oh the irony!! I built significant pieces of the Copilot onboarding, purchasing, billing and settings flow. For eight months I headed up the Copilot anti-abuse effort. I then led the launch of GitHub Models, and am now working on other Copilot projects.

must be painful, Copilot gives me serious "I cant do that Dave" vibes. But I can walk you though how to add events to your outlook calendar manually one by one.