> Are there any arguments that could seriously motivate me to continue with this career outside of just blind hope that it will be okay?
FWIW, as an oldish, so far everything that has been significantly impacted by deep learning has undergone a lot of change, but hasn't been destroyed. Chess and Go are a couple of easy examples; the introduction of powerful machine learning there has certainly changed the play, but younger players that have embraced it are doing some really amazing things.
I would guess that a lot of the same will happen in software. A lot of the scut work will evaporate, sure, but younger devs will be able to work on much more interesting stuff at a much faster pace.
That said, I would only recommend computing as a career to youth that are already super passionate about it. There are some pretty significant cultural, institutional, and systemic problems in tech right now that are making it a miserable experience for a lot of people. Getting ahead in the industry (where that means "getting more money and more impressive job titles") requires constantly jumping on to the latest trends, networking constantly for new opportunities, and jumping to new companies (and new processes / tech stacks) every 18 months or so. Companies are still aggressively culling staff, only to hire cheaper replacements, and expectations for productivity are driving some developers into really unhealthy habits.
The happiest people seem to be those that are bringing practical development skills into other industries.
FWIW, as an oldish, so far everything that has been significantly impacted by deep learning has undergone a lot of change, but hasn't been destroyed. Chess and Go are a couple of easy examples; the introduction of powerful machine learning there has certainly changed the play, but younger players that have embraced it are doing some really amazing things.
I would guess that a lot of the same will happen in software. A lot of the scut work will evaporate, sure, but younger devs will be able to work on much more interesting stuff at a much faster pace.
That said, I would only recommend computing as a career to youth that are already super passionate about it. There are some pretty significant cultural, institutional, and systemic problems in tech right now that are making it a miserable experience for a lot of people. Getting ahead in the industry (where that means "getting more money and more impressive job titles") requires constantly jumping on to the latest trends, networking constantly for new opportunities, and jumping to new companies (and new processes / tech stacks) every 18 months or so. Companies are still aggressively culling staff, only to hire cheaper replacements, and expectations for productivity are driving some developers into really unhealthy habits.
The happiest people seem to be those that are bringing practical development skills into other industries.