How to avoid sleepwalking into irrelevance in the age of AI
Let’s be real: most people in tech are still too chill about AI. They’re thinking, “I’m doing good work. I’ve got experience. I’ll be fine.”. That might sound comforting, but it’s a false sense of security.
The landscape is shifting—quietly, steadily, and faster than most realize. According to the World Economic Forum, 23% of all jobs will change by 2027, with 83 million roles disappearing and 69 million new ones appearing.
Even core roles like software engineering are being redefined. Anthropic’s CEO recently predicted that AI will be writing 90% of code within six months, and nearly all software development could be automated within a year. That might sound extreme, but the direction is clear: the value of “just writing code” is dropping fast.
Meanwhile, Tech companies are already raising expectations: more output, fewer people, faster delivery. If you keep doing what’s always worked, you may start to feel like you're falling behind. Not because you’re any less capable, but because the environment around you has changed.
Plenty of people think adapting to AI just means writing better prompts or playing with new tools. But those are surface-level skills. The real shift is deeper.
It’s about how you see your role, how you define value and impact, and how willing you are to reinvent yourself—again and again.
“Change is the only constant in life” — Heraclitus
With AI, the pace of change has gone exponential.
If you don’t shift how you think, no amount of skill will keep you relevant.
Disclaimer: I’m figuring this out too. I don’t have all the answers—this is just my way of thinking out loud with you.
In this article, we discuss:
The hidden habits that will quietly make you obsolete
The mindset shifts that will actually make you future-ready
How to move from anxiety to action—with clear next steps
If you want to stay relevant, grow faster, and lead in the AI age, this is for you.
What used to be enough isn’t enough anymore
You’ve probably built your career by doing good work, meeting expectations, and being dependable. These are still good things, and also table stakes.
Let’s call out the mindsets that once felt safe, but no longer are:
Being a great executor
Doing what you’re told, even brilliantly, isn’t enough anymore. If the work can be automated, delegated, or deprioritized, it probably will be.
What matters now is whether the problems you’re solving are still worth solving—and whether your role in solving them is defensible. The safest thing you can do is stop assuming you’re safe.
Banking on your seniority or job title
Seniority used to be a moat. Now it can be a trap. Your title won’t protect you if your role gets redefined—or replaced. The more senior you are, the more expensive you are—and the more pressure there is to prove your worth.
Ten years of experience isn’t the same as one year repeated ten times. What matters is how fast you can evolve—because relevance, not rank, is what keeps you in the game.
Waiting for a roadmap
Believing someone will tell you exactly what to do is a mistake. This isn’t a paved road. It’s a world we haven’t lived in before. Nobody’s handing you a map. You have to draw your own.
If you’re still in “wait-and-see”, then what are you waiting for?
Hoping things will “get back to normal”
We’re not heading back to normal. This is the new normal, and the pace of change is only accelerating from here.
The traits you need in this new reality
In this new world, you can’t just think like an employee anymore. You’re running a one-person startup—you. And your job is to keep finding product-market fit for yourself.
The age of AI rewards people who stop waiting for direction and start leading, especially in their own lives. Those who succeed will have these traits:
Thinking like a CEO
Nobody’s managing your career for you. You are the product. You are the strategy.
Decide where to invest, what to build, and when to pivot. Own your direction like it’s your business—because it is.
Self-managing like a pro
With fewer layers of oversight, your ability to manage your energy, time, and priorities becomes critical. It’s about creating more value while requiring less. That’s what scales.
I break down practical self-management skills (and how to spot the gaps) in this article: How to Self-Manage Even If You Have a Manager.
Letting go of perfect plans and long roadmaps
Even the OpenAI CPO thinks long roadmaps are a bad idea. Now it’s more important to just start and move. Adjust as you go. Continuously iterate. Learn in public. Share progress. Adapt in real time.
The future belongs to those who can act without having all the answers.
Doubling down on high-impact communication
Whether you’re talking to a person or prompting a model, the better you can translate ideas into words, the more you’ll get out of it.
Being able to clearly articulate your thoughts, recommendations, and intentions is still a superpower—even in the age of AI—so double down on it.
Leading through influence
As long as you need to collaborate with others, influence remains your ultimate edge. AI can be your thought partner and executor, but it’s still on you to align its output with your team’s goals through securing buy‑in, driving alignment, and negotiating trade‑offs. It’s the human touch—showing empathy, inspiring, and building trust—that helps navigate disagreements and makes ideas become reality.
Want hands‑on, structured practice in influence and high‑impact communication? New cohorts of my course Impact Through Influence starts May 26 and June 16. Early‑bird spots (with a discount) are open for 72 hours—grab yours here.
Final words
The pace of change isn’t slowing down, and panicking won’t help. What matters is your ability to stay grounded and keep moving, even when the path ahead is uncertain.
This is a wake-up call—not to panic, but to act with intention.
If you’ve been in coasting mode—or waiting for things to “settle down”—now’s the time to shift. The best antidote to fear is action.
Start by asking yourself:
Which habit above most rings true for me today?
Where is my current sense of safety coming from—and is it still valid?
If tomorrow my role is eliminated, what would I do?
What small experiment could I run this week to test a new way of working?
What is a tool or technology I’ve been putting off learning?
Who around me is adapting fastest—and what can I learn from them?
These questions are invitations to look inside and examine how you think, how you work, and how you show up. The sooner you explore them, the more choices you’ll have in what comes next.
Until next time,
Irina
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Great write up on the rapidly changing world of ai, and what that means for us as engineers, Irina!
Really like this question which I’ve also been asking myself recently:
What small experiment could I run this week to test a new way of working?
Here are a few more I’m asking myself:
- What am I currently doing that takes a bit of time that I can use ai to shorten so I can focus on more impactful things? (eg. summarizing incident reports, writing bug tickets, working with bash scripts, etc)
- How can I re-think through small bottlenecks in our team process as engineers? (eg. code review, deployments, writing documentation, learning new technologies)
- What are other creative ways people are using ai I haven’t thought of yet? (eg. coding up entire apps with ai, building out product strategy decks, writing missing integration tests, analyzing lots of data to surface insights that previously required data scientists, etc.)
The main thing I’m realizing is with everything changing so fast it’s really easy to fear the change and try to avoid what’s already hear and coming faster every week.
That’s only going to hurt us long term – those who succeed in this new ai era are those who remain curious and those who are willing to continually reinvent themselves and upskill in ways they never have before.
Adapt, learn, and stay curious.
AI won’t wait for you to catch up, always remember that.