From Geek to Star #18 - Career Resilience in the AI age

If you missed the previous episodes, you can access them online here.

🗓️ This Week – Episode 18: managing your career in this AI age

In Episode 17, I analysed LeadDev’s 2025 AI report where 800+ engineering leaders shared how their teams use AI and what they expect next. We all know tech evolves fast and staying relevant has always meant keeping up.

What I didn’t see coming until about a year ago was the question mark over the future of some engineering roles. For years I believed (and still mostly do) that as societies become more technological, tech expertise will remain in high demand - provided you keep learning. But I’m no longer certain that demand will always outpace supply for software engineering as we’ve known it for decades.

I still believe those who understand technology deeply enough to make things happen will have a better outlook compared with those who only consume it. But even for those who understand technology, resilience will be needed as stable careers cannot be taken for granted anymore.

What does resilience look like in this AI age?

It’s accepting that the tide can turn, fall momentarily in the water and being ready to get back on the ship and adjust course. Adjusting course means knowing where the wind is blowing: from your own market intelligence (quality press, long-form analysis, podcasts) and from conversations in your network.

A concrete example: if you’re a tech engineer doing mostly maintenance in a large outsourcing company (Accenture, Tata, Cognizant…), you may want to start drafting a Plan B. Market signals suggest clients will automate more routine work with AI - and outsourcers will offer that to retain contracts. You could be out of the equation if you wait passively.

What can you do now? If your work includes repeatable maintenance tasks, take the initiative to automate part of your own workload. The benefits:

• You upskill on current tools and patterns - maybe using some GenAI APis to read ServiceNow or Jira tickets, then using some workflow automation tool like n8n to create actions automatically instead of manually.
  

• You free some time in your working schedule.
  

• You reinvest that time in growth: a hard-skill you’ve delayed, a soft-skill (communication, influence), industry knowledge, nurturing your network, or hands-on experience (e.g., an open-source contribution). One of the key areas I mentioned in previous episodes which help you to be more ready.

That’s what resilience looks like: don’t wait for bad news to prepare your next move.

If you are not a maintenance tech engineer in a big outsourcing company, you can do the same exercise for your position: with what is currently happening with AI, with the economic context, etc… is there a short term risk in your position / career? If so, what could you do which helps you to make a step forward?

🙏 I’d Love to Hear From You

What’s one small step you’ll take this month to increase your career resilience?

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✨ May the Shift be with you!

From Geek to Star by Khang | The Way Forward