Facing the AIpocalypse With Eyes Open, and a Plan to Win
It’s a divisive issue. Every time I write about AI affecting engineers’ livelihoods, jobs, or AI business automation, I get two much-repeated responses:
- “Don’t be stupid, AI will never.” One guy even told me, ‘Your intelligence is artificial!’
- “Yeah, bro, it’s wild. It’s a lot to deal with.”
I’m not here to worry you. I prefer optimism, but let’s be real, change is here. It’s already hitting, and those who stay open-minded and aware will adapt and thrive through this massive transition.
I’m keeping my eyes open and aiming to evolve with AI. Burying your head in the sand like an ostrich and convincing yourself this isn’t happening is not a strategy.
Prepping FTW.
So, what’s my advice for software people amidst the biggest upheaval we’ve ever seen?
Learn AI—No Matter Where You Sit
- Junior dev? Learn AI.
- Senior engineer? Learn AI.
- Software product lead, team lead, CTO? Learn AI.
This is tech, which we love anyway. Being late to react to this shift is going to hurt.
How to Learn AI as a Dev
The more I share my AI automation experiments, the more I see this as one of the wildest times of opportunity ever.
Here’s the truth: many, many software folks are ignoring AI. Lots of us are revelling in it and just trying stuff out, but we’re still the minority.
One thing is for sure: you’re going to need more than an hour or two with ChatGPT.
Learn the Landscape
AI is more than just ChatGPT. It’s LLMs, agents, workflows, memory, and many divergent approaches to modelling. It may be fundamentally a lookup tool, but almost every day, a new team is leveraging it to do something new.
My advice:
- Read Hacker News, HackerNoon, X, and ProfitSwarm.ai
Learn to Think in AI
Prompt engineering is a mindset. If you’re good at writing PRDs or sales copy, you already have an advantage. The quality of your AI outputs depends entirely on the quality of your input (prompts).
My advice:
- Get used to calling AI APIs with diverse, dynamic prompts
- Play with AI image gen tools
- Practice framing outputs in concrete ways
- Learn model quirks & master system prompts
- Learn automation tooling (
Gumloop , Lindy, n8n, etc.)
Vibe Shift
My last two posts on HackerNoon blew up. Vibe coding exploded, then became an interesting niche drama in AI the past month.
…But I think those dramatic takes often miss the point.
Vibe coding is legit for good developers.
For others, it’s still fun and great for prototyping. But don’t expect it to produce production-ready, secure, scalable code yet.
For those engineers who embrace vibe coding, it’s a multiplier.
So, as of April 2025, Vibe Coding Smart is:
- Non-technical folks: Use AI to prototype and learn. Just don’t assume it outputs production-ready code
- Junior devs: Use it to learn and speed up your logic writing, but check, check, check
- Senior engineers/full-stack devs: AI is excellent at:
- Quick prototyping
- Fast (if bland) UI work
- Writing boilerplate code (e.g., CRUD / DAL basics)
But to my mind, AI still needs guidance on:
- Security
- Authentication
- Formatting
- Nomenclature
- Framework dependencies
By being good engineers and feeding it PRDs, robust specs, and napkin layouts, then hardening the code, we can achieve pretty amazing results.
Employed as a Software Engineer? Lead AI in your organization.
It’s awesome being an engineer; it can be a rewarding craft. But honestly, you should be leading AI adoption in your org, or at least be part of the transition. If not, you risk being left behind by 2026.
- Propose a project for yourself to test out tools and feed back to your company
- Write internal updates on what’s working in AI
- Be aware of market-affecting AI changes
- Be forward-thinking about automation
- Always remember to be human; people need their jobs, and change often creates anxiety. This may come up as escalation/conflict; tread carefully
(Note: Certain industries and regulated software might be harder to adopt AI in; think healthcare, finance, etc. But don’t let it block you totally, think of ways AI can be applied without antagonising people or effacing regulatory restrictions.)
Decide Your Line, Exit Strategies & CRAFT
AI is revolutionizing our profession. To what extent humans will engineer software in the future is unclear. Have an honest talk with yourself ahead of time.
-
If your job pivots to managing AI employees, do you still want to do it?
-
Is software engineering your craft? Do you want to compete in a market rife with AI clone factories?
-
Will you enjoy a day-to-day work life with far fewer humans in it?
We all have a line. A range of environmental variables that are nourishing, or even just acceptable.
There may be opportunities to pivot, retrain, accept, or reject AI as part of our workflows.
Define your line before you are made to cross it.
Strategy Examples:
- Some software entrepreneurs might thrive by always retaining the human dev craft
- Others might get great at automating and be happy wrangling bots
- Perhaps you could pivot to consulting or a totally different career
(Please don’t take this as life advice. I just want to get you thinking!)
Pivoting to IRL
One pull I feel (and believe will be massive by 2026) is the pivot of knowledge workers into IRL businesses.
Maybe you’ve always wanted to:
- Captain a boat
- Make giant sculptures
- Run a smallholding
- Make bespoke furniture
..or maybe that’s just me 😅.
Software and logic are comfy, but IRL ‘work’ may be healthier, present new challenges, and represent a ripe opportunity.
Tech might squeeze the joy out of hand-crafting apps. It will likely make copycats 1,000 times more prolific, making it a race to the bottom.
In my opinion, there’s a lot of upside for many of us in the IRL business over the next few years.
Certainly, I’m going to hedge my digital businesses with some analog ventures.
My AIpocalypse Prep
I’m generally optimistic. I believe AI will create good outcomes for many of us. But I love this quote:
“Invert, always invert.” – algebraist Carl Jacobi, via Charlie Munger
I always try to see the alchemical opportunity in everything I do. The flip side. AI has huge potential for mass career changes, but also great opportunities for us as craft system makers.
What I’m Doing to Evolve With AI:
- Leaning into AI hard (doing a challenge to make a 100% AI business this year – ProfitSwarm.ai)
- Making learning to use AI a core part of my life
- I experiment constantly, while trying to stay grounded in my values and humanity. (AI is super experimental right now)
- Balancing digital living with IRL living
- Hedging by looking for local biz opportunities
AI could be a philosopher’s stone or a management consultant’s axe. You decide.
Let’s See Where AI Takes Us
If you want to follow along with my AI business automation experiments, you can subscribe at ProfitSwarm.ai.
I’m going to make AI my philosopher’s stone, or explode fantastically. Let’s see where it takes us.
