Put a Pin in it: How to Future-Proof Your Career

In the 1920s, every bowling alley hired young boys to reset the pins and return balls while people were playing.

Bowling was becoming incredibly popular, but in order for people to keep playing, someone had to be down at the end of the lane risking their shins and fingers to set the pins up and keep the balls flowing. So those 'pin boys' made a nice buck.

But in 1941 a man by the name of Gottfried (Fred) Schmidt invented the mechanical pinsetter. By the 1950s most bowling alleys had a fully automatic setup.

Bowling got a UX refresh, games became faster, and more fun, and a bunch of young men were out of a job.

That’s what I think about any time I hear someone say "AI prompt engineers will make +$100k".

Technology has a habit of abstracting away complexity to make people's lives easier.

There’s a golden window to make a buck before improved UX makes it obsolete.

I’ve been saying the same thing about coding for a while. Coders will eventually bifurcate into mechanics vs. rocket scientists.

Improved consumer UX (ChatGPT and no-code tools) will abstract away the middle layer.

You’ll just have 10x engineers and general handymen.

You'll still need people with deep subject knowledge and the creativity to push the boundaries of what's considered possible.

You'll also need people who can whack together small projects for anyone who isn't very handy.

Two ways to stay future-proof:

1. Accumulate deep knowledge (know what's happening under the hood).
2. Become a master problem-solver (know how to creatively push boundaries to create unique outcomes).