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I don't feel like you can accurately predict the details 5 years out, and they will probably matter. My suggestion is if it's not too late, focus on something
by ilaksh 4y ago
I don't feel like you can accurately predict the details 5 years out, and they will probably matter.
My suggestion is if it's not too late, focus on something totally different: effective networking with people and integrating yourself into communities. A lot of success seems to be about who you know, what community you are in and who knows about you and your services or products.
Also don't sell yourself short. Having some Linux and networking experience is more than many young people can say.
Generative AI is the obvious current hot topic as far as a marketable skill. I think it will continue to become even more important to know how to leverage these tools. But also for people to find your products or services you need to be part of their network so people skills are also very important.
I am building a website that integrates multiple generative AI APIs with the goal of being able to replace humans doing basic server configuration, making simple programs, editing websites and generating content for customers.
Within say three years we can anticipate many such systems, some built in yet-to-be created AI systems like more advanced video generation.
Robots are getting better. There will be opportunities for people who build services that train and the rent out robot platoons for different tasks.
We don't know what's going to happen with Neuralink but the rapid approach of AGI may accelerate their schedule. If we get high bandwidth BCI in the next 5-10 years that, combined with AI, creates new types of collective socialization, entertainment, problem solving etc. with their own opportunities.
A job say 7 years from now (maybe 17 not sure) might be "VR Role-Playing Game God" which requires a high bandwidth brain-computer interface. Your job could be to watch advanced magic users in the game who are trying to create new spells, and judge whether they meet the requirements to be allowed and setting some technical parameters for their use. After which the AI would determine whether the spells were invoked properly. The requirements for invocation could even involve certain specific visualizations if the BCI were integrated into the visual cortex.
- nostrademons 4y agoPersonally I don't think generative AI will be a marketable skill the same way mobile development was a decade ago or web development two decades ago. Using an existing generative AI model is relatively trivial, just an API call, and so it doesn't have the complexity needed to create barriers to entry that'll justify high wages. Training a generative AI model does have that complexity, but it also requires compute & data resources that are beyond the means of an indie developer or small startup, and so you pretty much have to work for a well-funded company that can afford oodles of servers and petabytes of data. That limits the pool of potential employers, which again keeps salaries down. I think it might be much more like the economics for say aerospace engineers or petroleum geologists, both of which are very difficult technical fields, but do not have the bargaining power to demand high wages the way software engineers do. Hell, even like embedded software engineers, which arguably is harder than web/mobile development but paid significantly less because there are fewer businesses competing for those developers. Robotics potentially has a lot of potential, particularly if standardized hardware platforms emerge that could put the hardware aspects within reach of a lot of startups. It definitely has the domain-specific complexity, and yet will likely be structured as lots of small firms for individual markets searching for a common skillset rather than a few big firms trying to hire a very specialized skllset.
- kobotigo 4y agoThanks, I find this motivating for some reason. Although your example feels hyperbolic, nobody can see future well. It is all coming very fast and I don’t want to be left behind because I was lazy. I don’t have many more chances to launch a change. I have great intelligence, but not the credentials, resources or network. I have to construct some sort of plan and start now or risk being bitter and aimless till the end. I’ve been following GPT since beginning and the amount of progress language models has really astounded me. I feel as if the world is about to change very quickly because of things yet to come, and fear more than death being stuck mindlessly working Walmart type jobs, just to have food.
- throwawaysalome 4y agoI have great intelligence "I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says... like dumb..." -- The Godfather Part 2 (1974).
- kobotigo 4y agoMaybe signaling ones dumbness will be the more common thing one day when thinking and working with abstract ideas is just the uncool taxing thing machines do much better.