The time has come for us, as an industry, to adapt. The goalposts have been completely moved to the other end of the field. Thousands of hours of hard-earned knowledge have become significantly less valuable.

If we want to stay relevant, now is the time to plan ahead and predict what the future holds.

A look back

This is not the first time that humanity has experienced a shift this large.

The Industrial Revolution (late 1700s to 1800s)

During the Industrial Revolution, machines replaced manual labor in factories. It massively increased productivity but also caused social upheaval. Workers were terrified that the machines would cost them their livelihoods and transform industries beyond recognition. Sounds familiar?

The Electricity Revolution (late 1800s to early 1900s)

Widespread electrification reshaped how businesses operated and gave rise to things like 24/7 factories and modern cities. It also birthed entire new professions: electricians and electrical engineers (to name a few). Electricity became a general purpose technology that society simply cannot live without. Candle-lit family gatherings, anyone?

The Computing Revolution (1950s to 1980s)

The invention of computers (and later personal computers) revolutionized everything from finance to publishing to communication. Other than electricity, one could argue that it was the most important invention of the millennium. It shifted us from manual processes to automation and data-driven decision-making. Without this revolution, we wouldn’t even be here discussing AI today.

The Internet Revolution (1990s to 2000s)

The spread of the internet didn’t just transform businesses; it reshaped culture and society itself. It led to the dotcom bubble, sure - but optimism endured. Entire new industries were born, and many old ones were wiped out. Think about it: without this revolution, we wouldn’t have a single FAANG company.

The Mobile Revolution (2007 to 2010s)

Smartphones took everything - books, websites, notes, memories - and fit them into the palm of our hands. Ubiquitous access to powerful tools changed our habits on a massive scale, for better and for worse. It also brought us mobile applications which is a very recent convenience and solves our problems in ways we couldn’t even comprehend just a couple of decades ago.

The AI Revolution (2020s to ??)

TBD.

We find ourselves at the start of a new era. There’s a lot of hype. A lot of noise. Like every revolution before, there will be a lot of trial and error. History books (or websites) will only remember the wins - and the losses.

What is this all about?

Why the history lesson? Is this Britannica? No - it’s to highlight that all of the five previous revolutions listed above had something in common: Even though some industries (and jobs) collapsed, each revolution created new opportunities. New industries. New professions. New ways to thrive.

There’s no reason to believe the AI revolution will be any different.

So that’s it then, right? Post done. We should just sit around and wait for the next wave of jobs to emerge, then go back to college to re-skill and become junior engineers again?

You could do that.

Or, you could stay ahead of the curve - keep up with the new developments (both good and bad) and find ways to profit from it. No one knows exactly how this will unfold. Maybe all the AI companies will crash in their next seed rounds, and we will call this “The AI Bubble”.

Or maybe, like every time before, new industries will rise.

It’s too early to confidently announce what the future holds, but I remain cautiously optimistic. I am already looking for ways that this all might unfold.

I love programming. It is no secret. If I could code every day until the day I die, I’d be a happy man. But the reality is clear: AI is not coming, it’s already here. And it’s getting better every day.

We can mourn the way things were (like the folks in the Industrial Revolution did) and go burn down SkyNet. Or we can build what comes next.

Programming is about to get a major version bump. If we used semantic versioning, we’d call it “Programming 2.0”. Programming 2.0 won’t just be about writing code anymore. It will be about understanding (and applying) new tools.

The next chapter is being written - Programming 2.0 is here. Let’s get to work.