Facing the AIpocalypse With Eyes Open, and a Plan to Win

It’s a divisive issue. Every time I write about AI affecting engineers’ livelihoods, jobs, or AI business automation, I get two much-repeated responses:


I’m not here to worry you. I prefer optimism, but let’s be real, change is here. It’s already hitting, and those who stay open-minded and aware will adapt and thrive through this massive transition.

I’m keeping my eyes open and aiming to evolve with AI. Burying your head in the sand like an ostrich and convincing yourself this isn’t happening is not a strategy.

Prepping FTW.

So, what’s my advice for software people amidst the biggest upheaval we’ve ever seen?

Learn AI—No Matter Where You Sit

This is tech, which we love anyway. Being late to react to this shift is going to hurt.

How to Learn AI as a Dev

The more I share my AI automation experiments, the more I see this as one of the wildest times of opportunity ever.

Here’s the truth: many, many software folks are ignoring AI. Lots of us are revelling in it and just trying stuff out, but we’re still the minority.

One thing is for sure: you’re going to need more than an hour or two with ChatGPT.

Learn the Landscape

AI is more than just ChatGPT. It’s LLMs, agents, workflows, memory, and many divergent approaches to modelling. It may be fundamentally a lookup tool, but almost every day, a new team is leveraging it to do something new.

My advice:

Learn to Think in AI

Prompt engineering is a mindset. If you’re good at writing PRDs or sales copy, you already have an advantage. The quality of your AI outputs depends entirely on the quality of your input (prompts).

My advice:

Vibe Shift

My last two posts on HackerNoon blew up. Vibe coding exploded, then became an interesting niche drama in AI the past month.

…But I think those dramatic takes often miss the point.

Vibe coding is legit for good developers.

For others, it’s still fun and great for prototyping. But don’t expect it to produce production-ready, secure, scalable code yet.

For those engineers who embrace vibe coding, it’s a multiplier.

So, as of April 2025, Vibe Coding Smart is:

But to my mind, AI still needs guidance on:

By being good engineers and feeding it PRDs, robust specs, and napkin layouts, then hardening the code, we can achieve pretty amazing results.

Employed as a Software Engineer? Lead AI in your organization.

It’s awesome being an engineer; it can be a rewarding craft. But honestly, you should be leading AI adoption in your org, or at least be part of the transition. If not, you risk being left behind by 2026.

(Note: Certain industries and regulated software might be harder to adopt AI in; think healthcare, finance, etc. But don’t let it block you totally, think of ways AI can be applied without antagonising people or effacing regulatory restrictions.)

Decide Your Line, Exit Strategies & CRAFT

AI is revolutionizing our profession. To what extent humans will engineer software in the future is unclear. Have an honest talk with yourself ahead of time.

We all have a line. A range of environmental variables that are nourishing, or even just acceptable.

There may be opportunities to pivot, retrain, accept, or reject AI as part of our workflows.

Define your line before you are made to cross it.

Strategy Examples:

(Please don’t take this as life advice. I just want to get you thinking!)

Pivoting to IRL

One pull I feel (and believe will be massive by 2026) is the pivot of knowledge workers into IRL businesses.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to:

..or maybe that’s just me 😅.

Software and logic are comfy, but IRL ‘work’ may be healthier, present new challenges, and represent a ripe opportunity.

Tech might squeeze the joy out of hand-crafting apps. It will likely make copycats 1,000 times more prolific, making it a race to the bottom.

In my opinion, there’s a lot of upside for many of us in the IRL business over the next few years.

Certainly, I’m going to hedge my digital businesses with some analog ventures.

My AIpocalypse Prep

I’m generally optimistic. I believe AI will create good outcomes for many of us. But I love this quote:

“Invert, always invert.” - algebraist Carl Jacobi, via Charlie Munger

I always try to see the alchemical opportunity in everything I do. The flip side. AI has huge potential for mass career changes, but also great opportunities for us as craft system makers.

What I’m Doing to Evolve With AI:

AI could be a philosopher’s stone or a management consultant’s axe. You decide.

Let’s See Where AI Takes Us

If you want to follow along with my AI business automation experiments, you can subscribe at ProfitSwarm.ai.

I’m going to make AI my philosopher's stone, or explode fantastically. Let’s see where it takes us.