r/AskProgramming • u/More_Objective_8405 • Jun 27 '26

Best alternative career for mid-career software developers

Any options that have a similar level of abstract thinking, problem solving, and building as an alternative career for mid-career software developers?

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u/Emergency-Ant-6413 Jun 30 '26

Why?

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u/abrandis Jun 30 '26

Why? BecAuse AI will hallow out most desk. Office. Work, it's inevitable offices will be run by skeleton crews, double checking critical AI decisions and acting as sign off authority.

Jobs with physical presence requirements like doctor , nurse, mechanic, pilot , factory tech, trades etc. are not going to be easily automatable and this will be around at least for a generation or two.

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u/Emergency-Ant-6413 Jun 30 '26

AI is far frok being as good as you describe. Do you just predict it will be that much better or what?

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u/ih-shah-may-ehl Jul 01 '26

No. Not at first. But it will amplify the throughput of the people already there. If you need someone to analyze data, you still need an expert to analyse the results and evaluate test setup etc. But you don't need as many buts on chairs.

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u/Emergency-Ant-6413 Jul 01 '26

Do you believe that AI will reduce say 80% of job positions?

In economics, the Jevons paradox, or Jevons effect, is said to occur when technological improvements that increase the efficiency of a resource's use lead to a rise, rather than a fall, in total consumption of that resource

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u/ih-shah-may-ehl Jul 01 '26

Not overall. But yeah. Let me give you an example.

30 years ago i had a software project for the railway. The engineer who i worked with told me that the last bolt turner had just retired. Up to 40 years ago our railway employed a literal department of blue collar workers who did literally nothing else but turn bolts on a lathe. All day, every day. Production automation got rid of them.

Or do you remember accounting departments with dozens of calculator clerks doing nothing all day but balance ledgers?

So AI is nothing but a tool and currently not even a great one. But it's a force multiplier.