That's the unfortunate reality many have faced this month, with October layoffs being the worst in 22 years (source).

This concept of doing what we were told would be good for us and getting burned has been on my mind quite a bit.

• Remember, learn to code? How's that working out?

• Remember mom and dad saying, go to college, get a good job, you'll do alright

Take my own example: get a degree > get a good job > invest for retirement. OK, that worked for 10 years, but if I kept on that path, I'd be screwed. Let me explain

As I worked throughout my career as a niche engineer, I'd move onto different roles horizontally, and each company that I moved on to got bigger and bigger in terms of employees and revenue. Also, each transition ended up with more work, more responsibilities, and the same title, leading to burnout.

Trust me, I gave it my all and had the 1:1's voicing concern about my workload, nothing changed.

So, ultimately, the questions I had to start asking myself were:

1. Do I want to just keep being this corporate zombie, working long days with the understanding that the only reason this corporation exists is to return shareholder profits?

2. Do I think this white collar work is good for me, the world, and ultimately the customer?

3. Do I think 20 years down the road if I'll be better off if I stick with the current path or a completely different path?

4. What the hell is wrong with corporate America?

5. How long before the AI is good enough to replace a senior-level engineer doing what I do?

Right now, if I decided to stick it out in my previous career and apply for horizontal roles, I'd be stressed up to my eyeballs in enough work that 2-3 people could do full-time while waiting for that magical interview or call over the next year or so, because let's face it, the job market is trash. Corporations know this, so they'll keep pushing employees to do more and more. That's not how I roll. If I'm not digging it, I'm out.

Imagine a work day with less stress, getting paid to work out, working outdoors, no action items, no Teams pings (man I hate that noise), no emails, no bureaucracy, no calls from Chinese colleagues at 1 am. Just show up, do the work, and by the end of the day, you're looking at something physical you touched and had a hand in.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though. You have to have some grit, otherwise that 40 ft. trench won't be trenched and you'll be clowned on.

I'm not one to make decisions with haste, but I'm a little worried there are many more out there just like me. They feel stuck, trapped in their cubicle. Afraid to make the jump even though they know they're in the wrong place.

Let me provide some encouragement.

Microsoft Predicting what Jobs are most at risk from AI

Goldmach Sachs: 300 Million Full-Time Jobs at Risk due to a new wave of AI Systems (Source)

Independent.co.uk: AI is already replacing thousands of jobs per month, report finds (Source)

What's kind of scary about this as well is that the cat is out of the bag. Technology deploys on an exponential curve. There's nothing set up for all these people losing their jobs. They can't learn to code. What can they do besides join a trade? How many women would be satisfied if that were their only option? Who really benefits from this AI adoption?

I love AI, I use it almost every day, but it's going to create ripples through the economy. If you've wanted to try to make a jump to a different career, go for it. AI might just take your job in a few years anyway. You have nothing to lose. But seriously, think about it.

If we look back to 2015, 10 years ago. Apple released its first watch, Tesla rolled out a semi-autonomous autopilot system, Google made Tensorflow open source. These were all significant developments. The advancement in tech and AI will only get faster and faster. It's not a bad idea to have a plan B.

Or just get our government to make companies that have leveraged AI and automation to reduce headcount to subsidize these job losses, but that won't happen.

That's the unfortunate reality many have faced this month, with October layoffs being the worst in 22 years (source).

This concept of doing what we were told would be good for us and getting burned has been on my mind quite a bit.

• Remember, learn to code? How's that working out?

• Remember mom and dad saying, go to college, get a good job, you'll do alright

Take my own example: get a degree > get a good job > invest for retirement. OK, that worked for 10 years, but if I kept on that path, I'd be screwed. Let me explain

As I worked throughout my career as a niche engineer, I'd move onto different roles horizontally, and each company that I moved on to got bigger and bigger in terms of employees and revenue. Also, each transition ended up with more work, more responsibilities, and the same title, leading to burnout.

Trust me, I gave it my all and had the 1:1's voicing concern about my workload, nothing changed.

So, ultimately, the questions I had to start asking myself were:

1. Do I want to just keep being this corporate zombie, working long days with the understanding that the only reason this corporation exists is to return shareholder profits?

2. Do I think this white collar work is good for me, the world, and ultimately the customer?

3. Do I think 20 years down the road if I'll be better off if I stick with the current path or a completely different path?

4. What the hell is wrong with corporate America?

5. How long before the AI is good enough to replace a senior-level engineer doing what I do?

Right now, if I decided to stick it out in my previous career and apply for horizontal roles, I'd be stressed up to my eyeballs in enough work that 2-3 people could do full-time while waiting for that magical interview or call over the next year or so, because let's face it, the job market is trash. Corporations know this, so they'll keep pushing employees to do more and more. That's not how I roll. If I'm not digging it, I'm out.

Imagine a work day with less stress, getting paid to work out, working outdoors, no action items, no Teams pings (man I hate that noise), no emails, no bureaucracy, no calls from Chinese colleagues at 1 am. Just show up, do the work, and by the end of the day, you're looking at something physical you touched and had a hand in.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though. You have to have some grit, otherwise that 40 ft. trench won't be trenched and you'll be clowned on.

I'm not one to make decisions with haste, but I'm a little worried there are many more out there just like me. They feel stuck, trapped in their cubicle. Afraid to make the jump even though they know they're in the wrong place.

Let me provide some encouragement.

Microsoft Predicting what Jobs are most at risk from AI

Goldmach Sachs: 300 Million Full-Time Jobs at Risk due to a new wave of AI Systems (Source)

Independent.co.uk: AI is already replacing thousands of jobs per month, report finds (Source)

What's kind of scary about this as well is that the cat is out of the bag. Technology deploys on an exponential curve. There's nothing set up for all these people losing their jobs. They can't learn to code. What can they do besides join a trade? How many women would be satisfied if that were their only option? Who really benefits from this AI adoption?

I love AI, I use it almost every day, but it's going to create ripples through the economy. If you've wanted to try to make a jump to a different career, go for it. AI might just take your job in a few years anyway. You have nothing to lose. But seriously, think about it.

If we look back to 2015, 10 years ago. Apple released its first watch, Tesla rolled out a semi-autonomous autopilot system, Google made Tensorflow open source. These were all significant developments. The advancement in tech and AI will only get faster and faster. It's not a bad idea to have a plan B.

Or just get our government to make companies that have leveraged AI and automation to reduce headcount to subsidize these job losses, but that won't happen.