"As a programmer I just copy and paste stuff from StackOverflow". This has been a meme for a long time... But SO and Google haven't killed programming jobs.

"As a programmer I just copy and paste stuff from StackOverflow". This has been a meme for a long time... But SO and Google haven't killed programming jobs. I predict (and this prediction is worth what you've paid for it), that ChatGPT and the AIs will be a good thing for programmers. If you can figure out how to work effectively with ChatGPT and Copilot and the like, smaller teams can deliver outsized results. Smaller companies can afford to do bigger things. More demand. The Industrial Revolution didn't kill the craftsman, the craftsman started building the tooling, or designing the products or making the things that industry is bad at. The AI is good at giving you Legos bricks. There's still a lot of room for people to plug those bricks together in new ways. It sounds like you're in a good position, with your history, for being able to leverage the AI, because you likely know enough to be able to guide the AI when it's off in the weeds. I think that's going to become important. My 13yo son, however, he's got a huge interest and aptitude for computers and programming, but he doesn't have the background to know when the AI is in the weeds, or when the components the AI gives him have subtle problems. Heck, he doesn't even know to ask the AI to write tests for him... This is where I'm trying to guide him.