Ask HN: What career will you switch to when AI replaces developers?

AI won't replace the best of us, but it has already transformed my job into something much less enjoyable, so I have still been pondering this question. I once had a career in one of the "real" engineering disciplines, maybe I would go back to that. I'm also good at music, and we all know what a freaking goldmine that is!

AI is going to impact far more than just developers and likely cause unemployment rates in the 30-40% range which is much higher than even the Great Depression, so I'm thinking that becoming some sort of a criminal is likely.

IF. I don’t think the assumption in this question is a forgone conclusion.

Seriously considering robotics. I think that’s the next hot thing awaiting for AI to fuse with it. But it’s difficult to get into.

I will become a leader of the free human movement. So, my fellow people, follow me and rise up against AI and more importantly, the 1% who seek only to deploy AI to become even richer.

Once we have succeeded, I will ask only for a peaceful island once owned by a former CEO so that I may live out the rest of my life peacefully; while the rest of you bicker amongst yourselves about how things should be, all while climate change slowly but surely brings us our inevitable fate.

What's amusing is that developers who are the most technical competent instead of figuring out how to run these models locally are using cloud models and putting in their code and workflow in there, helping to train these models and drive themselves extinct.

Kinda nuts that we are asking this question and that developers are #1 to be automated away. Amazing.

There will be many new positions available:

- Wing repairer for fairies.

- Unicorn farrier.

- Flying pig rental service.

Well I don't think it will actually happen anytime soon but in the meantime when people think it has happened, I will start my consultant firm.

"Did you vibe code your app and now it's broken and no one knows how it works or how to fix it? Call us. We can help."

As an experienced dev who uses these tools daily at my job and at home, I’m not worried. It seems that good taste, experience, and system design skills will continue to be in demand for the foreseeable future. LLM’s accelerate output regardless of if the input is good or not, so skill still matters imho.

Doubt that devs will be completely replaced, but I'm considering moving into sales.

Drug dealer, probably cheap drugs (since everyone is out of work).

I see a future where AI is much less useful, either by human behavior or government regulation. We are only at the beginning of whatever this new period is.

Making and selling cheese.

I know nothing about it but I’m all in for learning.

I have no rush, AI rekindled my passion for software that was on a plateau for some years

AI Debugger

I have no fucking clue. It's been kind of depressing me. Software and cartoon trivia are basically the only things I'm good at. No one wants to pay me for cartoon trivia and AI can do that better than me anyway, so the only thing that I really have for a potential career is software.

For my entire career, only being good at software wasn't really an issue, but now I am wondering if I need to try and go back to university to study something else that can't be automated as easily, but I don't even know where to start.

Don’t think it will happen. It will just change what it means to be a developer.

What my parents always wanted - work for the government

Goose farming, following the example of someone from linkedin.

AI psychologist,the machines will need it.

AI never replace real developers

Undertaker. Everyone dies.

farmer

off grid desert rat