At the end of the year, I’m going to be entering the job market for the first time in twenty years. It’s not entirely by choice. Sometimes the universe just conspires against you.

My current employer is making this transition as painless as they can, so I’m fortunate and grateful. But the world I find myself stepping out into as a software professional in the age of vibe code is, as you may have read lately, terrifying.

As “the guy who gets the angry phone calls” I’ve always done my job from a place that feels like paranoia. Every plan requires an armor of just-in-cases. Naturally, I’m approaching this transition in the same way.

This change doesn’t come as a huge surprise. The writing has been on the wall for a while, so I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how my work is going to change, and charting out the waters ahead.

What should I spend my time doing? What really matters now that churning out code is becoming cheap? What skills do I already have that just need refinement? What’s my value and competitive advantage?

There are a lot of people out there with a lot of different takes about this right now. And for at least the next several months, I guess I’m one of them.