Everyone knows that AI is eliminating entry-level jobs and that this is going to destroy tomorrow's talent pipeline

Everyone knows that AI is eliminating entry-level jobs and that this is going to destroy tomorrow's talent pipeline. Individual companies know this creates a massive problem. But acting rationally, they'll kill the pipeline anyway.

Companies that keep training juniors for the sake of tomorrow's talent pipeline will fall behind competitors leaning into AI. They'll be slower, less efficient, less profitable. Then when they do need senior talent, those AI-powered competitors will just hire away the people their less profitable competitor trained.

The only way this gets fixed is collective action where everyone shares the cost of upskilling new hires equally because either the government subsidizes or forces it, or because industry bands together and agrees to do it together. That way no one company bears the cost for doing the right thing.

But collective action requires coordination, legislation, or both. That takes years and right now, the incentives for any individual company to act in your favor are zero. They need to stay competitive today.

If you're getting into the job market now and you're counting luck or on institutions to solve this, you're going to be in a bad spot by the time you realize you need to be the one to take initiative.

The people who make it through this transition employable are the ones who learn how to use AI to build things and solve problems. Not in theory. Actually doing it.

Find a problem that bothers you. It could be something that affects you, your family, your friends. It might be a "dumb" problem. It doesn't matter. Start building a solution. You'll learn more doing that than waiting for someone to train you.

The traditional pipeline is dead. Build your own.