I think that if AI "eats the world", which it will, all other jobs will go away. AI will, for instance, design and run factories. That means most jobs in factories will go away. Those factories will need developers, sysadmins, networking, data analysis, ... to operate, and they don't really have those functions today. It won't be 100% the same as a developer job now, but much closer to developer than to engineer.
Tech jobs are definitely coming back. I think more than ever before.
This, I think, has an incredible potential to advance the economy, and will require A LOT of programmers, AI/ML engineers and sysadmins, most in places where there is almost zero need for them today.
Have you ever been in a factory? Perhaps you’ve seen automated material handling systems, robotic assembly systems, and so on. Have you seen the plumbing? Have you seen a pump fail and be replaced? We are a long, long, long way from the lights-out factory. A steady reduction in the number of machine operators does not a self-sufficient plant make.
It's interesting to think how much better and cheaper robotics would have to be to cover the super long and hairy tail of issues that a single human operator can handle for <$100k / year.
Developing economies purchase a lot from the west. Germany and Japan have export-oriented stances because their local markets are developed to the point that local growth is slow...
Tech jobs are definitely coming back. I think more than ever before.
This, I think, has an incredible potential to advance the economy, and will require A LOT of programmers, AI/ML engineers and sysadmins, most in places where there is almost zero need for them today.