Quote :

"I am actually considering something blue collar, like a lot of IT professionals. The only problem is, once EVERYBODY is laid off due to AI"

I had this same thought with the offshoring craze in 2000. I had convinced myself there would be no jobs and I should do something else, which motivated me to go back and get a degree in Biochemistry. Looking around though it's kind of similar in a way. Back then it was helping companies figure out the internet. You'd build intranet sites to manage content, databases to track whatever metrics execs wanted. There was a boom in consumer products that came after too. Everyone needed an App to be the "uber for jerking off" or whatever.

People are rightly scared shitless of AI, and it's completely changed how I've worked. However, a lot of what I'm doing now feels a bit like the early 2000s. I'm meeting with non-technical people showing them capabilities and helping them see if they can use it. I got this lady using opencode this week and she's creating dashboards for her business unit to do reporting on this big gnarly project.

The job is completely different, however a lot of what was built to manage IT projects over the last 15 years is likely going to need to be rethought and the opportunity is limitless.

Quote :

"Actually my mind keeps going back to HVAC. "

Guy who did did three HVAC systems for me was a former art major. He really sold it as a job. Said it's always like a puzzle to figure out. Every house is different, especially older homes. Liked trying to make it work and look nice. Did say it's super hot and mentioned 150 degree attics being a particularly bad hazard.

Quote :

"seems like a good time to have a PhD in philosophy for... the first time ever"

Why? My best friend from high school is a Philosophy PhD. He's moved to working on transformers (not the models) for big power plants. He started that before the big data center boom, but now it's like minting money.

6/19/2026 7:57:36 AM

ironically, I'm strongly considering enrolling in a computer science associates program at Wake Tech

this would help me pick up more understanding of the audience I write for
and it would also put my student loan payments back into deferment

tuition for ongoing degrees is cheaper than paying my student loans

6/19/2026 10:41:39 AM