The 2025 Bum Thread

[413x]

Not sure if I missed it.

What do you do to be worried AI is taking your job?

Business intelligence. So very very vulnerable to AI.
I thought about retraining a while ago (not due to AI etc) but the salary was pretty good.

Now salaries are down.
Job opportunities are hard to get/generally bad economy.
Threat of AI.

Its all hitting at the same time. And all of a sudden that good salary doesn't look as good anymore.

 

[malachi]

Business intelligence. So very very vulnerable to AI.
I thought about retraining a while ago (not due to AI etc) but the salary was pretty good.

Now salaries are down.
Job opportunities are hard to get/generally bad economy.
Threat of AI.

Its all hitting at the same time. And all of a sudden that good salary doesn't look as good anymore.

Can't you leverage AI with your current skillset? At least pivot slightly into something else?

I'm sure BI isn't going to be taking over by AI tomorrow. Crap load of stuff AI still can't get right.

 

[413x]

Can't you leverage AI with your current skillset? At least pivot slightly into something else?

I'm sure BI isn't going to be taking over by AI tomorrow. Crap load of stuff AI still can't get right.

Maybe. But still, I'm looking for a job now.

Tbh I'm fairly disenfranchised with IT and have been for a while.

In hindsight I don't think "virtual" jobs are my thing. I prefer practical problem solving and physical things. But transition from IT to. Something completely different is tough.

Tough to even think "what's a good path".

I feel something physical and dexterous would be better for me and definitely better for AI revolution.

 

[d_brennen]

Just trying to figure out what to do really. Genuinely tempted to do something like train to be a heat pump engineer or something practical.

Not a bad shout. Having said that, probably get some Trump/BoJo clown leader next election. Burning coal in the living room might end up the preferred way to heat your home
Nothing wrong with plumbing, lots of demand. It's hard work sometimes though.

 

[413x]

Not a bad shout. Having said that, probably get some Trump/BoJo clown leader next election. Burning coal in the living room might end up the preferred way to heat your home
Nothing wrong with plumbing, lots of demand. It's hard work sometimes though.

Yeah and I'm not young.
Its a bit of a bind. If I was 20 I'd absolutely not be going to uni and doing a trade.
But at 39 and with a few knee issues the path isn't clear.

Short term I'm just trying to get a job doing what I did. Contract or perm.

Mid term I need to figure out what I really want.

Long term is anyones guess so not worth thinking about.

 

[Nasher]

Yea you'd have to be crazy to go to uni now and start off your working life in debt forever. It's not a path to a good job and money anymore.

Unless you are set on being a doctor or really in to science. Then you have to go.

Maybe. But still, I'm looking for a job now.

Tbh I'm fairly disenfranchised with IT and have been for a while.

In hindsight I don't think "virtual" jobs are my thing. I prefer practical problem solving and physical things. But transition from IT to. Something completely different is tough.

Tough to even think "what's a good path".

I feel something physical and dexterous would be better for me and definitely better for AI revolution.

The main problem with IT is it seems to be the only industry which all of the others rely on to actually work themselves, but at the same time it gets treated like no one wants it around.

A company needs an IT service up and running so they can make a multi-million dollar deal. But the only one who seems to get rewarded at the end are the CEO and the morally questionably salesman.

 

[NickK]

It gets treated like a bad case of business tax.

AGI is basically the wet dream of business to simply replace the IT business tax with something that 'magically' makes it happen.

I've been doing some thinking, and it goes like this:
1. the economic trade system is driven by a problem-solving paradigm where people doing trade to solve problem earn value or goods/services back:
2. trade = good or services for financial, goods or services in return of a given value.
3. If AGI replaces the trade (ie humans doing the trade) then you have no value creation unless you own the AI, and AGI to AGI bartering as an AI operating on a FTSE 100 AI services would then define the value to the AGI services/trade being performed.
4. Employment is either:
* application of trade - manufacturing production or operation of service - owned by the AI owners
* production of goods as an asset = no owned by the AI owners
* enablement of the go the business:
** information & analysis - is a product or service = AI operated
** direction - evaluation of the analysis & action = augmented human, cost dictated by AI owner
** transformation - change of production or operation (tech and/or business case) - most likely AI augmented human.

If you look at Circular Economies:
* AI Extracts materials (AI cost)
* AI augmented human Project 'idea' (AI cost)
* AI build and operation of Production (AI cost)
* AI Distribution (AI cost)
* AI/Human driven Use or Consumption (AI cost but it is the main revenue and value creator)
* AI driven waste collection (AI cost)
* AI recycling (physical goods) (AI cost)
* AI identifies Residual waste (not-recycled), physically has a massive cost due to the rate of operation and/or AI data pollution by growing legacy estate (massive AI cost)
* AI recycling where physical (AI cost but generates value) but if non-physical AI recycled then it's unlikely to be profitable due to outdated technology.

There's an interesting point around paradigm shifts by Thomas Kuhn that someone creates a social-economic-political paradigm shift university paper that basically describes the shift we're seeing with AI but in a general context.

Issue is I can't see a valued paradigm to shift too if you're not the AI tech bros.

However:
a) AGI is likely to be really bad at reading human emotions, understanding the world at large for a long time yet.
b) The cost for a business to remain viable in generating revenue needs to pay for all the AI costs - in fact it may be just too expensive for an AGI to be sandwiched into every job or have adequate return on the investment.
c) If the AI cost cannibalises the customers' business then there is only AI tech bros who own the entire economy, which results in two very very large problems:
1. If there's no businesses out there then nobody will by AGI services
2. If there's no businesses or employees then the government has no tax revenue without turning on the AGI owners (ie the Tech Bros).
3. Politicians stay in power due to voters who have now been made redundant.. unless you're a dictator (which is where trump is headed).

So it's unlikely that we will see mass AGI - it's simply too costly and too resource hungry (until the tech drops prices).

 

[Nasher]

Companies which have tried to replace human workers with AI realised it was a mistake. Especially that one where a customer convinced it to transfer funds lol

 

[malachi]

Companies which have tried to replace human workers with AI realised it was a mistake. Especially that one where a customer convinced it to transfer funds lol

Yep.

The AI hype is starting to slowing down and the true cost is starting to appear.

Remember during Covid, there was a big push to move resources into the Cloud. Amazon and Microsoft are raising costs, especially with their push for AI. Now moving resources into the cloud doesn't look like a good idea.

The company I start with next month, they have an ongoing project to move resource out of AWS back to on premises as their cost tripled in 2 years.

 

[throwaway4372]

The two party system is designed to balance progress with avoiding rebellion. One party is accelerate, the other is brake. They aren't actually different destinations despite advertising themselves like a genuine choice.

So if people get uneasy with the pace of change, then they vote brake, and progress slows. Same thing happening to net zero atm.

 

[Azza]

Yep.

The AI hype is starting to slowing down and the true cost is starting to appear.

Remember during Covid, there was a big push to move resources into the Cloud. Amazon and Microsoft are raising costs, especially with their push for AI. Now moving resources into the cloud doesn't look like a good idea.

The company I start with next month, they have an ongoing project to move resource out of AWS back to on premises as their cost tripled in 2 years.

Sounds like they need a Principal FinOps Solutions Architect.

 

[mid_gen]

Well this thread has taken some weird turns

Finally finished up at the big bad last week so I'm just on my two days a week at the uni for next 6 weeks.

Been having some conversations with people about options if I start my own business. Seems there's plenty of work around in my space for someone with my experience. Had to politely turn down a local studio who's CEO was chasing me for a management role too. Seems my main problem is going to be making sure I choose an option that is gonna work for me in the long term, not just find whatever I can.

Spending some days working on some AI middleware I've had for a while and giving it a thorough spruce up. Tossing up the idea of taking it private and licensing it, versus open-sourcing it all and using the visibility to drive consultancy work. Leaning towards the latter at the moment.

 

[Nasher]

Yep.

The AI hype is starting to slowing down and the true cost is starting to appear.

Remember during Covid, there was a big push to move resources into the Cloud. Amazon and Microsoft are raising costs, especially with their push for AI. Now moving resources into the cloud doesn't look like a good idea.

The company I start with next month, they have an ongoing project to move resource out of AWS back to on premises as their cost tripled in 2 years.

It seemed a good idea at the time with people remote working (I wish that never went away), but the costs are insane now. I'm not convinced Azure, Intune etc are actually better than good old AD and SCCM either. Certainly more long winded to use.

Also when Microsoft/Amazon etc have an issue, everything breaks, and it usually breaks on US time because they are messing with it!

Another problem with them is you cannot just set up a lab and learn it at home, they want you to pay for most features. So general skills and experience is lacking.

 

[NickK]

Companies which have tried to replace human workers with AI realised it was a mistake. Especially that one where a customer convinced it to transfer funds lol

Indeed - immaturity, total cost of ownership (lifetime) and the risks of security+business continuity all seem to be a surprise to the AI gurus.

A recent LinkedIn post showed a Reddit "Vibe Coder" getting hacked an not understanding anything to resolve it or secure it, let alone understand it looked like a data breach hence expect some fines! All this lead to the term Vibe Security (ie no security).

 

[Nasher]

Indeed - immaturity, total cost of ownership (lifetime) and the risks of security+business continuity all seem to be a surprise to the AI gurus.

A recent LinkedIn post showed a Reddit "Vibe Coder" getting hacked an not understanding anything to resolve it or secure it, let alone understand it looked like a data breach hence expect some fines! All this lead to the term Vibe Security (ie no security).

Yea there are lots of people coming out of uni or courses and jumping in to this stuff, but having no clue about the bigger picture or security.

I even see techs inside corporation who will put stuff together, with a focus on convenience and just assume Chinese hackers won't be interested in breaking in and stealing data (they are always interested).

 

[malachi]

If AI takes over this thread will be MASSIVE going on multiple pages, group of bums

But thankfully it wont.

 

[413x]

Yep.

The AI hype is starting to slowing down and the true cost is starting to appear.

Remember during Covid, there was a big push to move resources into the Cloud. Amazon and Microsoft are raising costs, especially with their push for AI. Now moving resources into the cloud doesn't look like a good idea.

The company I start with next month, they have an ongoing project to move resource out of AWS back to on premises as their cost tripled in 2 years.

Saw this too.
At end of my old role a few clients were lost due to pushing MS cloud services.
Basically the cost became super high after the funding from MS dried up.

Also, much like individuals with neftflix subscription price hikes.. If your cloud provider bumps up your cost and you are dependent on them.. You're boned.

One client was suffering due to the economy (very sensitive to it) and basically turned their cloud services off. It was a trial migration. Obviously if they were totally on cloud they couldn't do this.

Seemed to be a common theme for cost sensitive clients.



At a personal I will be ditching m365 due to the price rise if it can't be avoided. The price hike is being attributed to copilot. Absolutely not something I'm willing to pay for or need with my m365 Subscription

 

[Nasher]

I never saw the point of m365 over basically any old version of offline office

It has turned in to massive bloatware. With a lot of crap barely anyone uses.

 

[NickK]

Seemed to be a common theme for cost sensitive clients.

I built and looked after AWS in a large multi-conglomerate airline business. Previously the business had been used to simply culling the IT staff and leaving the outdated servers to rot in the DC. Modern business (and security) does not allow that it's a false saving. If you're that sensitive to cloud then either the code based was lifted and shifted without an eye for cost optimisation or the business case is so cost sensitive that if the economy hits a bump, any loan interest rate rises will kill the business.

 

[NickK]

Just looking at the the London Business School short course for financials for CIOs 2 months ~£90 and that will keep me ticking over in the interim whilst I have a look for roles (now the past weeks of painting and DIY are done). It may be a bit off a 'I know it already' but this will be a good way to demonstrate it on the CV.