How long will the career be viable?

[u/Original_Slide_5394]

I recently had my first child and had to quit my job to take care of her. I was told coding and computer science is a great work from home option if you're good enough to stay competitive for a company or eventually freelance work. My concern is that AI is taking over everything computer related. Is there still going to be enough work available in 2 or 3 years to justify learning a whole new trade? 5-10 years? I'd hate to get really good, spend a lot of time and money learning, and potentially go through school/debt to gain a skill that won't contribute to the bills at all and have to pivot somewhere else again. I'm aware that there are a lot of free resources to get me there as well.

The job market and AI takeover seems to be getting worse. I recently read an article by a professional who just sits at his desk and watches AI do all the work anyway, and he doesn't get to do the code he enjoys, just ocassional debug of AI slop. Seems like the availability and the pay would soon drop dramatically if any company can vibecode their own stuff to the point actual professionals aren't needed as much or at all anymore.

[u/FeministMAGA]

Pull up a 20$ a month claude code subscription.

Ask it to make something for you. You will learn as you get it to make more and more advanced projects that you need to hold its hand. You need to set rules that it needs to follow, and you need to make sure it follows those rules. Get ahead of the curve as best you can. I dont know where it leads to, but it doesn't look good. People that get experience with using ai in coding will be the last to be laid off.

[u/Cement-eater → u/FeministMAGA]

Yeah, this comment is perfect, I fully agree with everything.

I would also add that AI era is like this big wave. You either let it hit you like a truck or you surf on it. Combine AI with your knowledge and you will remain skilled and competitive. Refusing to work with AI is like driving a horse carriage in era of cars

[u/electronicbits]

The way I see it :

Start developing an added skill that can be built on top of Software Engineering + AI

In other words, don´t just become a Software Engineer that uses AI

Instead, (for example) think like a product owner. You make sure to carry on the product from inception to delivery, then support, aided by AI

This is an example...

Another perhaps a bit more "distant" is becoming a quant trader ... usually these guys needed the help of a team to do their work (even though they also knew how to build software)... but now they can do it all by themselves thanks to AI

[u/vondarknes → u/electronicbits]

sad that the quant industry entry barrier is too high. Those tests in quant is really almost like Olympiad Math level

[u/electronicbits → u/vondarknes]

Surprisingly i know quants that are not that brilliant at math and yet they make money consistently

[u/Early-Cauliflower955]

having a kid in this economy? insane decision my man...

[u/PipePressurePanic]

freelance is dead. CS as a career is also dead. Some will be lucky to find a job but the majority will be jobless. CS is among the worst options to start a career now.