Guys, is the current narrative that, due to AI, pure engineering is gone and we’re all supposed to be “managers”, or is it the other way around? I kinda lost the plot here.

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Nition 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

As I understand it, white-collar work at all levels is eliminated, as are creative pursuits (art, music, etc), and we can finally return to humanity's true calling - manual labour.

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Der_Einzige 6 hours ago | parent [-]

This but unironically. I'm hoping I can get into the skilled blue collar labor before it gets flooded by the hordes of unemployed AI researchers circa the 2030s (likely 2028 lol). No I'm not even kidding

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Tade0 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I wouldn't sweat about it.

In my ~40mln country the construction sector (that includes renovation, landscaping etc.) outnumbers the IT sector 3:1.

Lead times for having things done around here are ridiculous, which is why I believe the former can absorb half of the latter with little change in salaries.

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Der_Einzige 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Yeah skilled blue collar labor is insanely stupidly expensive. I do want a flood of them so that the current scammers in most of the skilled blue collars get devalued.

No, you do not get to charge 500 USD to change an anode rod on a water heater if I have the damn rod. That's a 20 min job MAX and the only reason I'm calling you is that putting on the stupid plumbing tape at the end is annoying for me

I understand guild warfare and the hatred of labor unions the moment that I have to deal yet another actually-should-be-in-jail levels of scamming from yet another dentist.

Y'all think that AI researchers should go to jail for hallucinated citations? Dental surgeons should go to jail for selling homeopathic remedies (ask me how I know!)

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anal_reactor 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I'm wondering if I get fired from my corporate middle-do-nothing job I could become a skilled blue collar worker. My point is, someone who both at the same time can put tiles and won't fuck up the pattern could be very valuable. I assume one year maximum to learn ins and outs.

	▲	jansper39 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Why would you assume you can become a skilled blue collar worker in a year?

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lbreakjai 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Who will need your labour if everyone else is unemployed?

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direwolf20 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Landlords, probably. The only people you have to keep paying even if they don't do anything and nobody is employed.

	▲	fcantournet 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		landlords need people to pay the rent. Or to spell it out more precisely : the construction/housing industry off of which land lords extract value needs external value creation to still exist AND give revenue to spend to a large population. "Houses are for people to live in" may be a communist slogan right now, but it's also very basic macro-economic reality.

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_glass 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wait for the robots taking manual labor. Maybe there is some value in nursing them?

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jetsetk 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

enjoy learning the job for 3 years before gettin replaced by the cheap floods

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6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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burnt-resistor 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Magically, spending money on datacenters and gear makes working code fantastically appear from the aether and so engineers can be paid the same as janitors. That's what the suits believe now.

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maciejzj 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah, irony put asisde, I believe that the reality is that people who already have power will consolidate it even more. Regardless if you were an average engineer, mid-level manager, consultant, whatever, you will be thrown under the bus any day. People can make up any identity and philosophy of entrepreneur/vibe engineer/manager/hardcore engineer/guy who run away to trades/anything but it doesn't change the fact that an average Joe is economically not viable in the current setup and he can't do anything particular to turn the tides.

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Cthulhu_ 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They can believe whatever they want but the reality will hit them soon enough.

	▲	burnt-resistor 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The problem is that decision-makers/owners are often too far away from the essential operations of the value chain and instead seek confirmation based on vibes and copying what others are doing.

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pezgrande 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

My theory: AI is making companies move faster or be left behind. Too many managers usually means bigger red tape.