Why Does Everyone Want Tech Jobs to Fail?
Recently, there has been a noticeable surge in the discussions about a potential collapse of the tech job market. The collapse of the stock market has not helped the case either. It almost seems as if people are eagerly waiting for the bubble to burst, hoping tech jobs will lose their lustre. In a Reddit discussion, many spoke about the possible reasons for this jealousy, hatred, or whatever it is that people have against tech jobs. An obvious one that came up was schadenfreude – the pleasure derived from another’s misfortune. The tech industry has long been associated with high salaries, luxurious perks, and an enviable work-life balance. During the pandemic, a user pointed out, people flaunted their remote, six-figure, salaried positions online while the rest of them had to work laborious jobs wearing masks. This created a sense of resentment among those in less fortunate positions, leading to a desire to see tech professionals brought down a peg. This disconnect between tech workers and the average person has fostered a sense of “finally, they’re getting what they deserve” from those who feel tech has been overhyped. AI is Now Killing Everyone’s Job? Some are not happy with the fact that AI is killing a lot of creative jobs, or at least being touted to be doing so. The tech overlords have stated several times that there will be no need for creative jobs in the future. It first came for the writers and artists, and followed it up by wiping out a lot of clerical jobs. People started hoping the same for the software engineers. Cognition Labs’ Devin tried to do so, and everyone was happy that the people who created AI are the ones who are going to get replaced by it. But the truth of the matter is that none of the jobs are getting automated completely. The rapid growth and significant influence of the tech industry have also contributed to the backlash. “I find a lot of tech workers constantly flaunt their very high tech incomes that they have in their 20s and 30s ($250k-1m). They make many times the median income, and have a totally different reality than the rest of the population.” The claims like “tech is dead” and “software engineering is dying” by the AI experts themselves have been fuelling the fire. Even the creators of coding tools such as GitHub Copilot and others have said several times that coding would become redundant as everyone would be a coder. Some root for a downturn in tech jobs in the hope to see a more balanced job market emerge. The dominance of tech in the job market has led to significant wage disparities and a concentration of wealth and opportunities in IT hubs. A correction in the tech job market could, in theory, lead to more opportunities across different sectors. But AI is here to stay. Every Job Would be a ‘Tech’ Job It’s hard to ignore how AI has revolutionised almost every aspect of our lives, from communication and healthcare to entertainment and education. And now AI is creating the age of abundance, with every job getting easier, and in some sense becoming a “tech job”. Generative AI has made even creative jobs easier for the artists, albeit they seem a lot less creative. With techies giving prompts to AI art generators such as Midjourney, making videos on Runway, and writing poetries on ChatGPT, the artists have started to criticise the need for AI, or even the tech field, as it is making art less artsy. But AI will create more creative jobs than there are today. While the tech industry does pose challenges, it also presents opportunities for reskilling and upskilling the workforce as Indian IT is doing it with its current employees and training them with generative AI. As automation and AI continue to evolve, there’s a growing anxiety about the future of work and whether there will be enough opportunities for everyone. This uncertainty can breed a desire to see the tech sector stumble, in hopes that it might slow down the pace of change and offer some stability to other industries.
The claims like “coding is dead” and “software engineering jobs are dying” by the AI experts themselves have been fuelling the fire.
This disconnect between techies and the average person has fostered a sense of “finally, they're getting what they deserve”.
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["AI", "generative AI", "ChatGPT", "Aim", "RAG", "R", "Go", "Git", "GitHub", "API"]
Mohit writes about AI in simple, explainable, and often funny words. He's especially passionate about chatting with those building AI for Bharat, with the occasional detour into AGI.