Will AI take your job?
My second segment on NPR
Hello, Hoodies!
I’m please to announce that I was on NPR (again!)
This time talking about AI and the tech workforce. Which was perfect timing since I just completed my thoughts on the matter in writing.
In the midst of rewriting my ebook (which you can get here) I was brought to the brazen reality of the current market conditions.
Companies are more profitable than ever while still firing double digit percentages of their workforce.
But why?
Let’s dive in and I’ll show you how to stay competitive.
Laying off because they can
This does not mean that everyone is getting laid off. But it does mean that the stupid jobs where people do very little actual work are dying. Or are at least in shorter supply than they used to be.
The office space style jobs are gone.
The ones where you do 30 minutes of actual work in a day - erased. And they’re never coming back. The expectation is IF you happen to be a super killer stacking contracts, and even that’s debatable and a topic for another post.
Economic concerns
I’m no economist, which means I’m probably about as well qualified to speak on the subject as most economists. But I tend to see this as a preventative measure. We are not in a recession in the classical sense, and in fact, the market is pretty strong and getting made artificially stronger. Companies are laying off stupid jobs in favor of AI. When that happens, stocks go up, but it is temporary - a tree with no roots. Too many layoffs will cause reduced consumer spending for the everyday American, and I think companies know this and are doubling down on maintaining profits than increasing them, but with reduced operational expenditure.
They’re betting on AI
Companies are, in my estimation, mis betting on the future of AI and what it can do. Not because it won’t continue to scale, but that the costs of AI will likely become so great as to have the companies that make the best harnesses to monopolize the end result, making Anthropic a milti trillion dollar company.
Now this one may end up becoming a good bet, but we can be sure that any open source solutions won’t compare to the paid stuff in total power, however strong they are. The modern comparison is GLM 5.1 compared to GPT 5.5. GLM is GOOD. GPT is AMAZING. For the price, its out of this world. But not in total output. And replacing human beings requires total output.
So what does this mean for YOU?
Unsurprisingly, if the stupid jobs are getting automated away, then you should position yourself to be ABOVE the stupid jobs. Sounds obvious, right? The practical line is actually far blurrier, and role specific.
Companies are hiring less for non helpdesk junior positions than before, because AI can do a lot of the work of juniors.
SOC Triage? AI. Coding functions? AI. Report writing? I’ll give you one guess.
But you know what hasn’t been taken by AI? Ironically the easiest IT job - helpdesk.
People want to talk to a person, not an AI. Even if that person is using an AI to execute the tasks.
And the other sector is senior roles. Things above the cut of what AI can do today.
The process is still largely unchanged from 2021, just the specifics have been updated.
Certifications
Skills
Strategy
For your security and above helpdesk security adjacent jobs, that roadmap looks like:
Network+
Security+
Prompt Engineering (AI)
Linux
Bash
Python
Traffic Analysis
A BIG OL PORTFOLIO (easier than ever now with codex)
Plain Text Resume (try for free at plaintextresume.com)
Apply to 1000 jobs
Once a year, we run back the bowtied two step. Helpdesk first - forever job second. No payments for 90 days. JUST IN TIME to get your SECOND job in September for the September Surge.
You can preregister with the link below:
That’s all for now. Stoked to see you in the twostep!
Cheers,
Evan Lutz (BowTiedCyber)
This comes on the backs of my second ever interview on NPR that you can listen to here:
https://www.marketplace.org/story/2026/05/18/ai-is-making-it-harder-to-get-a-cybersecurity-job