The uncomfortable truth: AI isn't coming — it's here. And it's not replacing "jobs," it's replacing tasks. The people who survive (and thrive) are the ones who can do what AI can't, or who can use AI to 10x what they already do.
Why coding + AI literacy matter:
1. Coding is the new literacy. Not everyone needs to be a software engineer, but understanding how things work — APIs, automation, logic — is the difference between being the person who uses tools and the person who gets used by them.
2. AI amplifies skill, it doesn't replace it. A mediocre carpenter with AI is still mediocre. A great carpenter with AI can design, quote, schedule, and deliver faster than a crew of 10 could five years ago. Your edge isn't coding OR your trade — it's coding AND your trade.
3. The earning gap is about to get brutal. Right now, people who can prompt an LLM, automate workflows, or build a simple script are already earning 2-3x more per hour than people doing the same job manually. In 5 years, that gap will be 10x. The choice isn't "learn AI or don't" — it's "learn AI or accept a permanent pay cut."
4. Your competition isn't AI, it's people using AI. If you're a contractor and the guy down the street can bid jobs in 30 seconds using AI-generated quotes and material lists, and you're still doing it in Excel, you're already losing. The market doesn't care about fairness — it cares about speed and cost.
5. You already have the hardest skill: judgment. AI is a tool. It can't decide what's worth building, who to trust, or what makes a project "good." That's still you. But if you don't know how to use the tool, your judgment doesn't matter — someone else will execute faster.
Bottom line:
Investing time in AI + coding isn't about becoming a techbro. It's about staying employable, competitive, and in control of your income in a world where the baseline just shifted under everyone's feet.
The people who ignore this will spend the next decade wondering why they're working harder for less. The people who lean in will spend it wondering why they didn't start sooner.
Your move.
