Embrace AI: The Key to Staying Relevant

This guest post is written by my good friend and colleague Karl Schwirz, Director at Slalom, master of AWS, and decent soccer coach.

The world is evolving faster than ever. Technology isn’t just advancing—it’s reshaping entire industries fast! Whether you’re in tech, healthcare, business, or education, adapting isn’t optional anymore—it’s about staying relevant. And right now, one of the biggest shifts is artificial intelligence.

AI is not an enemy; it’s a tool. It's designed to enhance productivity, solve complex problems, and reshape how we work. AI is a powerful tool that’s enhancing productivity, solving complex problems, and reshaping how we work. The opportunity lies in how we choose to use the technology—those who learn to master it will gain an edge.

To thrive in a constantly evolving market, standing still is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. Embracing new opportunities and adapting is essential for both personal and business growth. Evolution isn’t about discarding the past; it’s about building on it, learning, and growing.

The key is embracing change. Learning to work with AI doesn’t just make you relevant—it’s like adding rocket fuel to your skills, making you more efficient, and positioning you as a leader rather than someone wondering where everyone went. Whether it’s automating routine tasks, analyzing data faster, or enhancing decision-making, AI is a partner that helps you work smarter. And those who adapt, who are willing to evolve and leverage these tools, will be the ones shaping the future.

AI isn’t taking your job, people using AI are.

The bottom line? AI is like a superpower—you just need to learn how to use it for good (or at least to get ahead). Keep learning, keep growing, and make it part of your skill set.

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Thank you, Karl! I couldn't agree more.

AI can write code, but it’s not inherently creative in itself. It’s a copy of what it’s been trained on. In most cases, our code is a copy of someone else’s anyway (thank you, StackOverflow). AI enables us to quickly take care of the mundane code, like writing models, data arrays, common routines, regex (thank God), etc. With this out of the way, we are able to exert our creativity into our code and products we’re building. We get to take on the more interesting challenges, the big picture items, and the small, nuanced complexities. AI is a long way off from being uniquely creative.

I agree with Karl: “AI isn’t taking your job, people using AI are.” If you haven’t embraced AI in your routines yet, developer or not, do it!