I Thought AI Would Replace Me — Until I Learned This

Dai Dinh

Dai Dinh

— 2 min read
I Thought AI Would Replace Me — Until I Learned This
Photo by ZHENYU LUO / Unsplash

A few months ago, I was sitting in front of my screen, staring at a blinking github copilot.

Not because I didn’t know what to build.

But because I started wondering: “Does any of this still matter?”

The headlines weren’t helping:

"30% of staff laid off."

"AI replaces entire departments."

"Banks cutting thousands."

Friends were losing jobs. Clients were pausing projects.

And here I was — a full-stack developer — wondering if I’d still have a place in this new world.

🧠 The Wake-Up Call

One late night, I asked ChatGPT to help me debug a nasty backend issue.

In under 10 seconds, it gave me a solution that worked.

Ten seconds.

That’s when it hit me:

It’s not about how smart you are anymore.

It’s about how well you adapt.

🌍 The Game Has Changed

I started looking around:

  • AI writing code, emails, lesson plans.
  • Legal teams replaced by document scanners.
  • Sales teams using AI to analyze customer calls.

I realized this wasn’t the future.

It was already happening.

If I didn’t evolve, I wasn’t just falling behind — I was becoming irrelevant.

🔥 But Then I Noticed Something Else

I stumbled across MIT’s open course on algorithms — for free.

I saw no-code founders building entire SaaS apps in weekends.

I joined small communities where solo devs were thriving — not in fear, but with focus.

That’s when I realized something important:

AI doesn’t kill your career. Stagnation does.

🛠️ The Tools Are Different — But The Mission Is The Same

The world still needs creators.

It still needs teachers, problem-solvers, and storytellers.

But the way we deliver value has changed.

And I knew I had two choices:

  1. Stay bitter, complain about AI, and fade into the background.
  2. Adapt, learn, and build faster than I ever could before.

I chose the second.

🌱 This Is Just the Beginning

Every day now, I:

  • Automate boring tasks instead of repeating them.
  • Learn something new, even if just for 20 minutes.
  • Build projects not to prove my worth — but to keep momentum.

Because the truth is:

The world won’t slow down for us.

But it will open up for those who move with it.

Thank you for reading 🌟

I’m Dai, a full-stack developer sharing lessons from my indie dev journey.

Right now, I’m also working on a side project — an app to help solo developers stay consistent.

👉 For all my posts in one place, follow my original blog at blog.daidtech.com.

👉 You can also connect with me on X (@daidtech).

Read more