In the past couple of years, I’ve noticed two very different narratives around AI.
One says:
AI will take over many jobs and replace developers.
The other says:
AI is the future, and if you don’t learn it, you’ll be left behind.
Honestly, both sound a bit extreme.
From my perspective as an ordinary developer, the more practical question is not how powerful AI is, but:
Will AI improve my income, stabilize my job, or give me more options in the future?
Most of us are not founders or investors.
We are simply trying to work, live, and earn a living.
I was anxious at first #
When ChatGPT first became popular, I was also worried.
As a developer, I saw many videos claiming:
- Developers will be replaced
- AI can write thousands of lines of code in seconds
- There will be no need for engineers anymore
During that time, I tried many AI tools myself.
What I found was simple:
Yes, AI can write code.
But it doesn’t know what I actually want to build.
For example, when I ask it to implement a feature, it can generate code quickly.
But questions like:
- Is this requirement reasonable?
- Why do users need this feature?
- Which solution fits the product better?
- How do we debug when things break?
These still require human judgment.
Over time, I started to see AI as:
A very capable intern.
It knows a bit of everything.
But the person making decisions is still you.
AI is replacing low-value work first, not jobs themselves #
I once worked with a colleague whose daily tasks were mostly:
- Organizing Excel files
- Writing weekly reports
- Summarizing data
- Copying and moving information
These tasks used to take half a day.
Now AI can finish them in minutes.
So the question becomes:
If someone’s value is only repetitive work, their competitiveness will naturally decline in the AI era.
But if someone focuses on:
- Understanding business logic
- Identifying problems
- Driving projects forward
- Solving complex issues
Then AI becomes an assistant rather than a replacement.
People often worry about losing their jobs to AI.
But a more accurate way to describe it is:
AI is taking over work that has little room for growth.
You don’t need to rush into learning AI #
This is one of my strongest feelings recently.
When people see AI booming, they immediately start:
- Learning prompt engineering
- Learning workflows
- Learning agents
- Learning every new tool
After a few months, they often realize they still don’t know what they can actually do with it.
The problem is simple:
Tools evolve too fast.
One becomes popular today.
Another appears tomorrow.
A new model shows up the day after.
It’s impossible to keep up.
Instead of chasing tools, a better question is:
What am I already good at?
If you are an accountant:
Use AI to improve financial analysis.
If you are a designer:
Use AI to speed up your creative process.
If you are a teacher:
Use AI to assist lesson preparation.
If you are a developer:
Use AI to improve development efficiency.
AI itself is not the value.
What matters is how AI helps you solve real problems.
Don’t waste time on anxiety #
I’ve noticed many people spend their days:
- Watching AI news
- Scrolling through viral AI videos
- Trying new AI products
It feels exciting, but after a month, nothing changes.
It’s similar to fitness:
Watching workout videos every day doesn’t build muscle.
Likewise, consuming AI content doesn’t improve your income.
What actually matters is:
Using AI to complete real projects.
Even something small:
- Writing an article
- Building a website
- Creating a tool
- Automating a workflow
Only through building things can you understand what AI is actually useful for.
The biggest opportunity in the AI era #
If I had to summarize it realistically:
The biggest opportunity in the AI era is not becoming rich overnight.
It is that ordinary people can now gain capabilities that were previously out of reach.
In the past:
- You needed developers to build a website
- You needed designers to create visuals
- You needed specialists to write plans
Now, many of these things can be done by one person.
The boundary of what an individual can do is expanding.
But this doesn’t mean everyone will become a billionaire.
It simply means more people can independently build things they couldn’t before.
And that, in itself, is already significant.
My personal approach #
If I had to describe my plan for the next few years:
I won’t go all-in on AI.
But I won’t ignore it either.
I treat AI like electricity or the internet — a fundamental tool.
I keep using it.
I keep learning it.
I use it to improve efficiency.
But I still focus most of my time on things that won’t become outdated:
- Professional skills
- Problem-solving ability
- Communication skills
- Continuous learning
Because tools will change.
Models will change.
Trends will change.
But these abilities remain.
In the future, the real difference between people will not be who uses the best AI tools.
It will be who can use AI to amplify their abilities by 10x.
And that might be the most realistic answer for individuals in the AI era.
References #
GitHub Octoverse: The State of Open Source and AI https://github.blog/news-insights/research/the-state-of-open-source-and-ai/
JetBrains Developer Survey: Which AI Coding Tools Do Developers Actually Use at Work? https://blog.jetbrains.com/research/2026/04/which-ai-coding-tools-do-developers-actually-use-at-work/
METR Research: Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.09089
AIDev Dataset Research: Understanding AI Agent Participation in Software Development https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09185