I'd so deeply like to believe every engineer around me is on the same wavelength understanding that building AI tooling is building (most of our) own career graves. Just with the pressure on our backs of "get fired now for not doing this or get fired later when the AI replaces us."

But then also I see an effusively pro-AI LinkedIn post from my boss and I just. You understand the never-subtly-stated goal is job elimination, yeah? You and so many other people across so many other sectors. "AI can do for $20/month what an expert would charge hundreds an hour for!" That's you! You're the expert!!! The only winners here are the company owners paying an AI subscription instead of paying employee packages, and the AI sellers laughing to the bank.

They're not being subtle! The company will work you to the grindstone and keep with this pattern of "unprecedented" ~10% annual layoffs, that started in 2023 and won't stop. The desk next to you is empty. Bob used to sit there. Theo used to sit in the next room. I'm not insane. They want you to make the AI and then they want you gone! Hello! Hello?

engineers/developers built their own graves by refusing to unionize because their pay & benefits were better than other specialties even within the same company. people legitimately thought that the $300-500k big tech salaries were because they were genius inventors and not because of labor scarcity that companies resolved within a couple decades through STEM training programs & offshoring jobs.

like in every other industry, automation would not be this level of a threat to people's livelihoods if the working class were effectively organized. if AI didn't exist, companies would be continuing to find new & innovative ways to pay workers from the global south pennies to do the same work.