"Learn to Code" - Again, the Career Experts Were Wrong

Will anyone take seriously career advice ever gain? 

The latest example of how that "guidance" has created labor unmarketability is the "Learn to Code" push. Insider is among the growing number of media centers documenting how software developers will be an extinct species. That's because, of course, of generative AI. AI ChatGPT and its competitors typically can produce code better and faster than humans.

So, the "sure thing" of coding joins the solid discipline of writing and the investment in advanced degrees such as the M.B.A. as bad bets for making a living. Most of those I coach are finding refuge in self-employment. Those micro enterprises range from owning a laundry to selling used whatever. The growing mindset is: The less the sunk cost the better. Why jump through so many hoops, be they education or financing, to produce enough income? Incidentally, enough is becoming enough.

It is no longer unthinkable that we will stop using the term "career." Instead, from the get-go we will be socialized to figure out how we can become financially secure. That returns us to a time before careerism took over in the 20th century. Back then it was primarily about making ends meet, plus building a little bit of a reserve. The ethos was hustle, not strategic planning. 

During the 1950s and 1960s we sized up the opportunity to earn a buck and went after it. On the mean streets of pre-gentrified Jersey City, New Jersey, at age 11 I operated an enterprise selling Wallace Brown greeting cards and religious icons. At age 12 I "earned" a three-speed bike by selling for the parish school subscriptions to the Newark Star Ledger. At age 16 I landed a part-time job as a long-distance operator for NJ Telephone. That lasted through age 22 and I graduated college with no debt. 

Unfortunately, careerism seems to have created generations which sit around - literally - and think about work. They do that before their first real job, on the job, and when they lose the job. Eventually they could find themselves unemployable. It won't because of AI per se. Instead it will be because of the mindset that earning income is about a career. It isn't. 

UPDATE:

Insider reports: 

"Recent data from Indeed shows a more than 50% decline in software-development job postings compared to a year ago." 

Connect the dots in a more effective way.

Intuitive coaching for job search, earning income in semiretirement, professional transitions, and starting your own business. 12 years coaching experience. 5 years experience creating communications for human resources. Complimentary 5-minute reading. Sliding scale billing. Please text 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com for appointment.