I’m kind of sick of being a dev. I hate AI with a passion.
I hate the hallucinations, I hate slop, I hate megacrops, I hate the environmental impacts, I hate the massive costs. I could go on but you get the picture.
At work I often times have to review vibe code slop from people who clock in 9 to 5 and don’t give a fuck (I respect that, I just wish your fucking code wasn’t slop)
I’m sick of it, I’m sick of hearing about AI tooling or new models or bro agentic actions bro based on your documentation bro.
I want to switch careers, so which career is not ruined by AI?
You must log in or # to comment.
I’m an electrical engineer and I deal mostly with medical equipment. Not even this field is safe. People are going to die.
Architecture is the other one that vaguely worries me. I don’t like the idea of unknowingly walking around in a building that was designed by AI. I work with AI and it can’t even be trusted to write a blog post correctly, let alone design a building that’s safe. And I know if I’m thinking of that now, it means someone else has already thought of and attempted it at least 6 months ago.
Plumber
Also pays very well
A different kind of slop…I’d prefer it
I work in a datacenter. I rack servers, I look after the cooling system, the generators, the ups’s, etc. I won’t ever be replaced by AI. Without me there is no AI. And I barely interact with it. I play with toys all day.
The environmental impacts still bother me. But IT has always been wasteful, even before AI. I hate recycling days when I see exactly how much plastics, styrofoam and metals are going to the dump.
Previously the equation was trying to get as much processing out of every kilowatt-hour, now the equation is trying to use as much energy as possible. The impact of AI eclipses IT loads from before by a massive margin, and because of the theory behind it will never, ever do any better than it is right now. The environmental impact should bother you because it’s massive and getting bigger.
And you’re helping set it up and keep it going. I know what it’s like to run a datacenter, I did it for a decade and a half. I’m not going to say I’m making more money now, but I do sleep much better.
My datacenter doesn’t host AI. Most of my servers process data coming from the square kilometer array in Australia. We’re looking for aliens
Problem is, cost of living is so extremely high where I live and I don’t know what else I would do to make enough money to stay here. I’m really good at this job, and I don’t have very many other talents
It could be a lot worse too. Our cooling system is a closed loop so we aren’t using fuck tons of water like newer datacenters. In the winter we can mostly get away with air cooling from outside air. And the power in my city is all from hydro dams
So when you said “Without me there is no AI,” what were you referring to?
Maintence/upkeep on servers in general, pretty fucking obvious what they meant.
This person is likely in facilities, I doubt they are touching servers much after they’re racked. Maybe a crash cart is shit really hits the fan and ops can’t get in remotely.
They went from directly being responsible for AI to having nothing to do with it. My question is not unreasonable.
People like me are required to keep this AI empire going. There doesn’t seem to be a huge pool of people who are both computer people and good at physical labour/using tools.
I just meant that AI isn’t going to make me unemployed
I do a lot of system administration too. It depends on the system and who owns it. I do a pretty wide variety of work which is why I love it
We had facilities monkeys like you describe but after a reorg they gave those responsibilities to whichever sysadmins showed the most interest, which is how I got the job. I’d rather play with toys than stare at a screen all day so the jump was a no brainer to me
I’m a tax lawyer. I’m gonna be very busy fixing the messes people make using AI-assisted do-it-yourself tax planning lol. And by fixing I mean telling them to beg for penalties to be forgiven lol
Join us, become a tradie. Get a company vehicle. Work with your hands. Become enough of an expert in your trade that you can tell customers to go fuck themselves if they’re dicks. Have every company in the area be desperate to hire you because every trade is short handed. Work with people who barely understand the concept of a computer. Spend half of every paycheck on milwalkee packout tool boxes. Never have to work with AI again.
My preference is HVAC-R but plumber or electrician are also good choices. Building automation may seem attractive but then you’re getting close to the AI danger zone again.
Ironically, the three trades you listed are in high demand right now specifically because of the rapid rollout of the data centers needed to power AI.
A couple of thoughts on this as a union electrician: for starters AI is absolutely having an (arguably negative) impact on manpower fulfillment. In my area the massive expansion of data centers is causing a manpower shortage for all projects not funded by massive tech companies. This is complicated because it’s inflating income for tradesmen due to demand, but it’s also pressuring workers into ridiculous schedules (think 4x10s, 2x8s, and most Sundays) and is forcing contractors that aren’t running data center work to completely rework their payment structure and bid practices. Many of these sites are also a 1-2 hour commute for a large number of tradies. A lot of these guys have been gaslit for decades into thinking working more OT somehow makes them a better person.
Beyond that, while I haven’t personally seen it yet AI will absolutely begin worming its way into design; a process already riddled with issues and errors largely due to time constraints. Clients are going to want work done faster and cheaper, which will pressure design teams into using AI tools in the name of expediency, which will lead to more errors in the construction process, leading to inflated costs and likely problematic installations.
That’s not even getting into the future of AI robotics which absolutely will be impacting our tradesmen directly in the near future.
It’s coming for us too.
I’m not an electrician, but I have a relative that is. You nailed it. We’ve got a couple DCs going up near by, and he was asked to commit to a 2 year commitment for just one of them, working exactly the hours you said. He agreed because I think they are paying double time for all OT, and that’s good money. They asked if he wanted to sign on for the other DC but he declined for the obvious time reasons. It’s definitely had an effect on available workers for other projects since seemingly all hand are on deck.
I’m not familiar with the architecting process, but I can absolutely see how AI will be, if not already, involved with generating plans. It will shit something out faster than anyone could create it, but it will lose that value in review and the inevitable mistakes that make it through. AI is a cancer
i went into a dying trade in my 20s ugh and stuck with it now i’m too old to start a new one outside of maybe CDL. so yeah make sure you are physically up to it first (i am in very good shape for my age and look 10 years younger but i would be obliterated by the multiple year “break in” apprentice period again and likely would just get in a fist fight with someone trying to “break me” and destroy them and go to prison or vice versa)
Maybe I just skipped it because I was a factory tech for a while but there was no “breaking” in my experience. The worst we have is a tendancy to throw aprentices into being full techs a bit too quick sometimes.
i’m sure it varies place to place, might have something to do with where i reside
i have family that could fast track me into commercial HVAC tech (which i could absolutely handle) and skip the grunt work/crawlspace/installation stuff but they are a bit too far away for me to leverage the connection
Yeah, that’s probably a lot of it. Around me everywhere is so short handed that companies will bend over backwards to get/keep people. Beating up on newbies is a great way for them to have no employees because those newbies could just as easily get a job at a dozen other outfits the next day.
Also, I hate to tell you this but, commercial doesn’t necissarily keep you out of crawlspaces. It’s more rare but the few crawlspaces that you do wind up having to deal with wind up being much bigger (and not in the good way).
Largely agreed, but if large-scale social problems flood the trades then we have another problem on our hands.
And say goodbye to your knees!
I’m thinking about finishing out my career with that kind of transition.
I’ve always done various office work and have been good at it, but I know I’m on borrowed time.
At some point in the next 1-3 years, they’ll automate 90%+ of what I’m doing, and I’ll be out the door. And being late 40s, with the job market being what it is, and admittedly me not skilling up much most of the last decade or so… I have I just don’t have what’s needed to get back to work in favorable conditions once that inevitable canning happens.
Fortunately, I have a friend of the family who’s a long time HVAC guy, and the company he works for has been short handed for quite a while. I figure if I start training up in the very near future, I’ll be able to transition over without too many issues, and If I’m careful, I won’t have to beat myself up too much in the decade or so before I retire.
I think the powers that be have an ultimate goal of combining AI and robotics to automate the trades too, but they are much further away on that… it should be a safe space for long enough.
Idk maybe I’m wrong, but this feels like more of a hiring issue than AI. You should still be hiring good engineers, and you shouldn’t incentivize them to go so fast that they have to vibe code everything. Let good engineers use AI if they want, and not use it if they don’t want to. If their code is bad, it’s their fault, not the tools they are using.
“AI can’t replace you but an AI salesman can convince your boss to replace you will AI.”
AI will never be able to throw bricks at cops. Something to consider
Do you get dental?
The settlement money from the city after I get my eyes blown out by “less lethal” rounds tends to cover it.
You’re from Stuttgart
Im not sure if this a meme or an accusation. But I am not, neither the one in Germany or Arkansas.
It just so happened that in Stuttgart there were protests and police in fact did blow one guy’s eye out of the socket in a very similar way you said.
I thought that you’re referring to that.
No :( only vision to ensure good aim
A drone with a cord goes a long way.
I was going to say my industry, sewer and water but now they’re forcing cameras with AI in them into our with vehicle to “save on insurance.” More like spy on us and figure out why we’re messing around with one fire hydrant so long.
I hate it here.
I’m a local truck driver for a smallish local trucking company. My company installed new dash cams with both internal and external cameras. Every truck I know has at the internal camera at least covered in tape, if not removed completely (Mine is gone completely). If my company required the internal cameras, at least half the fleet would likely quit and it would be catastrophic for the company.
One of the perks of the job is being alone and just chilling out most of the day. You don’t get to watch me.
Yeah I’m moving across the country soon so it won’t be my problem but 3/4 of the people who work there are already looking for jobs because of other micromanaging shit that’s started happening. We’re the highest producing, lowest issue location and all of a sudden they’re treating us like toddlers. Everyone is pissed.
I’m a highly intelligent person. It’s always been both infuriating and absolutely dumbfounded how management of a company can have all the information on how their company is run, how employee interviews, evaluations, and observations occur, how profit growth vs expenditures relate to each other, and still sit down in a board room together and not only brainstorm, but literally agree to an idea that makes their company fucking worse in every possible way, and piss off everyone who is why they’re in this position.
I will never understand it. Especially with my company who doesn’t have shareholders or shit. We’re a completely private and insular company. We’re family owned. And yet they still make decisions that hurt them by pissing off the people that work for them.
It’s fascinating.
Yeah that’s the same setup as my company. I have a feeling, because I’ve been here before, that the owner of my company is looking to sell. This is exactly what we went through at my last company and then they announced that they sold out. Oddly enough 5 of us all worked at that place. I’m really really beyond sick of private equity.
I find it unreal that this is legal. This is why we need unions.
I have coals in the fire for unionizing my industry. Waiting until later this year where I have a better financial situation as a backup plan in case I need to do it unemployed.
But when I’m done, my friends and co-workers will be unionized.
Good luck!
I’ve grown up in a country where unions are as natural as air. The unions are so strong that there basically is very limited employment laws - and no minimum wage; there’s just not need for the state to intervene that much because unions are EVERYWHERE. And yes, a Big Mac meal costs a fortune because employees actually have to make a living. I’m ok with it.
Funny enough, our entire industry is unionized except for our sector. From the producers to the plants, everyone is protected except for what we do. It shouldn’t be difficult to get us unionized but it’s still a rather uphill battle. And talking to some of my co-workers, everyone is willing but I’m the only one taking the lead on it.
Engineer
Rocket scientist
Electrician
Plumber
Mechanic
Structural engineer
Surveyor
Anyone with a professional job that requires a degree, or even the most basic level of technical knowledge know that an LLM cannot replace their job by “putting words in enough of an order to sound like a person” or “drawing a picture that looks like something”
I did this 9 years ago. I make 2/3rds of what I did in software, but I don’t regret it. pivoted to environmental work. My job satisfaction is like, a thousand percent better.
Can you say any more about the type of environmental work?
I started over doing entry level spray tech work treating exotic plants through americorps and worked my way up. I do a lot of field data collection and gis work now. So, I still utilize my old software skills. I work for my local government doing environmental land management.
GIS is definitely a software adjacent job that is utilized a lot in land management. But that isn’t the initial route I took. I really did just kind of started over.
Thank you for sharing
Anything that requires physical work. Manufacturing, trades, etc… But, there’s the caveat that AI may still indirectly affect these too.
Prostitution.
I am not saying it’s the ideal career choice for most people, however it isn’t something ruined by AI…
And there are opportunities to progress into a madam or pimp. Plus you get a funky hat with a feather, I’m unsure how this process goes though (I would imagine there must be some sort of application process for the hat).I actually think you are on to something here as I feel like there will always be people who desire to be with a “real human”.
That said if they ever developed something like a holodeck in real life I can see it making a dent in the industry.
Like morally I’m completely fine with prostitution, although in practice consent is hugely important for me, and you can never be truly certain if they are being coerced into the practice by a pimp/madam/other extenuating circumstance. With a computer consent really becomes a non issue, and thus a little more “morally okay”.
CAD specialist.
It’s gonna be a while, but I don’t expect it to be completely safe.
My backup is construction management which I am also very much qualified to do. I very much doubt that’s in any danger in the near future.
If both of those get completely taken over by AI, I’ll revert to being a carpenter. Not ideal, but if that gets taken over by AI, we’re at the point where workers have become entirely obsolete, at which point either universal basic income is a thing, or it’s time for a violent uprising against our AI overlords.
An interesting thing about CAD is that the field got decimated in the switch to computers. You can choose to either go up the technical chain to be a great detailer or progress in CAD management since Autodesk and Bentley only do so much
Anything that’s based on physical work or human contact. Trades, medical/social work, psychology, emergency workers…
Psychology? A lot of folks are already using ai as a virtual therapist
That is the equivalent of saying “we don’t need doctors since we can put bandaids on wounds”
Psychology is about a lot more that what LLMs can do
Doesn’t mean psychology can’t be ruined by AI anyway.
so is art or even programming for that matter, but here we are.
Correct, we don’t need Doctors for every scrape in the exact same way that I can explain a social situation to a LLM and it can help by referencing back to published literature on that particular topic, suggesting clear guidelines as to how to move forward. Sure there are also broken arms and cancer exists, but the base level (and moving up the chain) is absolutely coming for Psych work.
