Will I Lose My Job to AI?

 

This has become a hot topic lately—and understandably so. I hear the concern from employees, investors, colleagues, and even my own students. The question comes up in different forms, but it always boils down to the same anxiety: Is AI about to make me irrelevant?

I want to offer my perspective, not as a futurist or a headline chaser, but as someone who has been in IT since I was 18 years old, back in 1988 (yes, you can do the math). The company I worked for at the time paid for my university education, and ever since then, I’ve been hearing—on a very reliable 5-to-7-year cycle—that my job in the database world was about to disappear.

Every single time a new technology hit critical mass, the story repeated itself:
“This will replace DBAs.”
“This will automate IT.”
“This will eliminate the need for specialists.”

And yet—without sounding arrogant—I’m still very much needed.

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First, a reality check: AI is not new

For those younger than me, this may come as a surprise, but AI is not new. In fact, it’s older than my mother. You don’t have to take my word for it—you can ask AI about AI 🙂

The foundational ideas behind artificial intelligence were published as early as 1943. The terminology and implementations have evolved over time, but the underlying goal has remained consistent: help humans make better decisions.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, we called much of this expert systems. These systems were used for predictability, forecasting, diagnostics, and decision support—everything from medical recommendations to stock trading models. AI has been quietly embedded in our systems for decades, doing exactly what it was designed to do: assist, not replace.

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So… what actually changed?

Three major things—and their convergence is what makes today feel different.

1. Data, everywhere
   The internet turned the world into a massive, distributed database. Text, images, code, research, conversations—suddenly available at global scale.

2. Elastic compute
   Cloud platforms removed the barrier to entry. You can now spin up enormous computing power on demand, without buying a data center or “breaking the bank.”

3. Insanely fast processors
   Modern microprocessors can execute on the order of hundreds of billions of instructions per second, with multiple cores operating in parallel. Numbers that used to sound like science fiction are now commodity hardware.

That combination—data + compute + speed—is what unlocked the current wave of AI. Not a new idea, but a new scale.

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The state of AI today: a productivity tool, not a replacement

Here’s the part that matters most.

AI today is a productivity tool.
A powerful one—but still a tool.

Yes, it can make you faster.
Yes, it can make you more effective.
Yes, companies benefit when employees can do more in less time.

But AI also:

• Makes mistakes (often confidently)

• Lacks true context

• Requires human judgment

• Needs supervision, validation, and responsibility

In other words, AI doesn’t remove the human from the loop—it demands one.

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Will there be IT jobs in the future?

I’ll go on record and say this plainly:

Yes. Absolutely. Without question.

But they will not look like the jobs we have today.

My own career is proof of that. What I do today barely resembles what I was doing at 18—and that has far less to do with AI and far more to do with the simple reality that technology never stops evolving.

In IT, staying relevant has always meant learning, adapting, and evolving. AI doesn’t change that rule—it just reinforces it.

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Ten years from now: humans + AI, not humans vs. AI

Looking ahead a decade, I still see AI primarily as a productivity amplifier. I expect a closer relationship between humans, AI systems, and automation—possibly even robotics.

Think of AI less as a rival and more as:

• A very efficient assistant

• One that handles repetitive or analytical work

• So humans can focus on creativity, strategy, security, design, and problem-solving

AI will help us tackle problems we don’t even have yet—just like every major technology shift before it.

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Final thought

So no:

• Don’t change careers out of fear

• Don’t panic-sell your technology stocks

• And no—the world is not coming to an end

We’ve been here before. Many times.

Technology changes. Jobs evolve. Humans adapt.
And in the end, human judgment, creativity, and responsibility still matter.

They always have—and they still do.

Embracing Your Authentic Self in Adversity

 

 

In the ever-evolving landscape of the professional world, losing a job can feel like a personal failure, an assault on your self-worth, and a confirmation of your worst fears. When it seems like a company doesn't value your contributions, the sting can be particularly sharp. Yet, in these moments of uncertainty and self-doubt, it’s crucial to remember that your value isn't solely defined by your job title or your current employment status. Instead, it’s rooted in your authenticity, professionalism, and the image you project to the world.

The Importance of Being Yourself

At the heart of your personal and professional journey is your authenticity—who you are at your core. This is your unique combination of skills, experiences, values, and personality traits. Being yourself means staying true to these elements, even when external circumstances challenge you. When you lose a job or feel unappreciated at work, it's easy to question your identity or try to mold yourself into what you think others want. However, this often leads to further dissatisfaction and a loss of self-respect.

Authenticity is your anchor. It is what sets you apart in a crowded job market. When you embrace who you are, you allow others to see the real you, which fosters genuine connections and opens doors to opportunities that align with your true self. In essence, staying true to yourself isn't just about personal integrity—it's about being the best version of yourself, one that resonates with others and leaves a lasting impact.

Projecting Your Image: You Are Your Own Marketing

In today's world, you are your own brand. Every interaction, both online and offline, contributes to the image others have of you. This image is a powerful tool, especially during times of professional upheaval. Even if a company doesn’t value you as you deserve, how you handle the situation can either enhance or damage your personal brand.

Think of yourself as a product in the marketplace. How do you want to be perceived? Reliable? Innovative? Professional? Your behavior, attitude, and the way you present yourself all contribute to this perception. When faced with adversity, such as losing a job, the way you manage your emotions, communicate with others, and move forward will be closely observed by those around you. This includes not just potential employers, but colleagues, friends, and even family members.

By maintaining a positive and professional demeanor, you reinforce your brand as someone who can handle challenges with grace and resilience. This doesn't mean ignoring your feelings or pretending everything is fine—it means addressing those feelings in a way that is constructive and aligned with your long-term goals.

Doing Your Best, No Matter the Circumstances

One of the greatest tests of character is how you perform when the odds are against you. It's easy to excel when everything is going well, but true strength is revealed when you continue to put in your best effort, even when it seems like no one is watching or caring.

Doing your best, regardless of the circumstances, is a testament to your professionalism. It shows that you are committed to your work and to yourself, not just to the external rewards or recognition that might come with it. This commitment is a critical component of your personal brand—it tells the world that you are reliable, dedicated, and capable, even in the face of adversity.

Moreover, this approach can have a profound impact on your mental and emotional well-being. By focusing on what you can control—your actions, your attitude, and your effort—you can regain a sense of agency and purpose, even when external factors seem overwhelming. This mindset shift can be incredibly empowering, helping you to navigate through tough times with confidence and dignity.

Professionalism in Adversity

When you lose a job or face a professional setback, it’s natural to feel hurt, angry, or even bitter. However, how you handle these emotions can significantly affect your future opportunities. Professionalism isn't about suppressing your emotions; it's about managing them in a way that upholds your dignity and respect for others.

This means not burning bridges, even when you feel wronged. It means communicating with others—whether it's your former employer, colleagues, or potential new employers—in a way that is respectful, honest, and constructive. It’s about showing up, doing the work, and maintaining your standards, even when it feels like no one else is.

By maintaining your professionalism, you not only protect your personal brand, but you also set yourself up for future success. People remember how you made them feel, and by handling adversity with grace, you leave a lasting positive impression that can open doors later on.

Conclusion: Turning Adversity into Opportunity

Losing a job or feeling undervalued by your company can be a daunting experience, but it doesn't have to define your future. By embracing your authentic self, projecting a positive and professional image, and continuing to do your best, you can turn adversity into an opportunity for growth and reinvention.

Remember, you are your own best marketer. Every challenge is an opportunity to reinforce your personal brand and demonstrate to the world—and yourself—that you are capable, resilient, and worthy of the success that awaits you. Keep showing up, keep being true to yourself, and keep pushing forward. The world is watching, and the image you project today will shape the opportunities of tomorrow.

Leadership during uncertain times

 

 

In an era characterized by rapid change, globalization, and unforeseen challenges, leadership has become an increasingly complex and critical skill.  There are essential qualities and strategies that effective leaders must cultivate to successfully navigate their organizations through uncertain times. By examining case studies, leadership theories, and practical applications, leaders can often find answers that help them to thrive amidst uncertainty.

The only constant in today's world is change. From technological advancements and economic fluctuations to global pandemics and environmental crises, leaders are continually confronted with uncertainties that require agile, innovative, and resilient responses.

Key Attributes of Effective Leaders in Uncertain Times

Vision and Strategic Thinking: Leaders must have a clear vision that provides direction and purpose. Strategic thinking enables them to anticipate future challenges and opportunities, ensuring that the organization remains aligned with its long-term goals.

Emotional Intelligence: The ability to understand and manage emotions is crucial. Leaders with high emotional intelligence can build strong relationships, handle stress, and make informed decisions that consider the well-being of their team.

Adaptability and Resilience: In times of uncertainty, leaders must be flexible and resilient. They should be open to change, willing to pivot strategies, and able to recover from setbacks quickly.

Decisiveness: While it is important to gather information and consider various perspectives, leaders must also be decisive. Making timely decisions, even with incomplete information, can prevent paralysis and maintain momentum.

Strategies for Leading Through Uncertainty

Fostering a Culture of Innovation: Encouraging creativity and innovation helps organizations adapt to change. Leaders should create an environment where new ideas are welcomed, and experimentation is supported.

Building a Strong Team: A leader's success is often determined by the strength of their team. Investing in team development, promoting collaboration, and recognizing individual contributions can enhance collective resilience and performance.

Scenario Planning and Risk Management: Proactively identifying potential risks and developing contingency plans can prepare organizations for various scenarios. This strategic foresight enables leaders to respond swiftly and effectively when challenges arise.

Embracing Technology and Data: Leveraging technology and data analytics can provide valuable insights and improve decision-making. Leaders should stay informed about technological trends and incorporate data-driven strategies into their planning.

Prioritizing Well-being and Support: The well-being of team members is crucial, especially during uncertain times. Leaders should prioritize mental health, provide support resources, and foster a work environment that promotes balance and resilience.

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The importance of joins in relational databases

 Relational databases play a crucial role in organizing and managing vast amounts of data efficiently. One of the key operations in relational databases is the join operation, which allows the integration of data from multiple tables based on common attributes. This paper highlights the significance of joins in relational databases.

Relational databases are widely used in various industries, including finance, healthcare, e-commerce, and more, due to their ability to store and manipulate structured data. Joins enable the retrieval of relevant information by combining data from multiple tables based on common columns.

We have spoken previously about the relational model where data is stored in tables; those tables are self-contained from the logical perspective; in other words, the student table contains information about the students, the grades table contains information about the grades, the calendar table contains information about the academic calendar and so on. But most of the time, you are going to need to collect information from multiple tables to be able to produce meaningful information, and that is where you leverage the join technique to traverse from table to table to get the information you need using the relationships among those tables.

There are many types of joins, and they will be discussed in detail further down the road,

• Inner Join
• Left Join
• Right Join (outer join)
• Full Join
• Cross Join
• Self-Join

Inner joins and right joins (also commonly known as outer joins) are the two most common types of joins; on an inner join, rows from the two tables in the join are included in the result only if their related  columns match, while outer join returns rows from one table in the join even if the other table does not contain a matching row.

Here we have six students, but only five grades; please notice that “Nathan Edwards,” with student id 6519659, has not had grades posted yet.

 

When we join both tables using the where clause, there has to be a match on both tables in order to be included in the result set. 

 

However, there are times when you want all records to be displayed, even if it is to create awareness that a professor. To display all of the students who exist on the table, including those who do not have a grade, use the Outer Join operator. This operator, a plus sign enclosed within parentheses (+), will be placed on the side of the join condition that is deficient in information – the right side or student_grade table. 

Conclusion Joins play a fundamental role in relational databases, enabling the integration and retrieval of data from multiple tables based on common attributes. The ability to combine data efficiently has significant implications for data analysis, decision-making, and business operations across diverse industries. Understanding the various types of joins, their benefits, and their challenges is crucial for database administrators, developers, and analysts to design and optimize join operations effectively. By leveraging join optimization techniques, organizations can harness the full potential of relational databases and derive valuable insights from their data.

Time Boxing

  

DISCLAIMER: I am not the author of this article, and unfortunately I don't know how it got into my inbox, but I use this technique, and agree with the statements below, I am sharing it with you as it could be useful for you as well. the only contribution that I will add is that I also categorize with colors my to-do tasks, green for those that are not important because have a flexible deadline, red for those that are very important, orange is for research time or learning time and purple for anything personal.

 "Sunmary

In a recent survey of 100 productivity hacks, timeboxing — migrating to-do lists into calendars — was ranked the most useful. Timeboxing can give you a much greater sense of control over your workday. You decide what to do and when to do it, block out all distractions for that timeboxed period, and get it done. The benefits of calendarized timeboxing are many, varied, and highly impactful. The practice improves how we feel (control), how much we achieve as individuals (personal productivity), and how much we achieve in the teams we work in (enhanced collaboration). This may be the single most important skill or practice you can possibly develop as a modern professional, as it buys you so much time to accomplish anything else. It’s also straightforwardly applied and at no cost. Box some time to implement a version of this that works for you. 

Five years ago I read Daniel Markovitz’s argument for migrating to-do lists into calendars. Since then, my productivity has at least doubled.

That momentous (at least for me) article describes five problems with the to-do list. First, they overwhelm us with too many choices. Second, we are naturally drawn to simpler tasks which are more easily accomplished. Third, we are rarely drawn to important-but-not-urgent tasks, like setting aside time for learning. Fourth, to-do lists on their own lack the essential context of what time you have available. Fifth, they lack a commitment device, to keep us honest.

This was enough for me. I converted from my religiously observed to-do list (daily work plan) to this calendar system, also known as timeboxing (a term borrowed from agile project management). All five of Markovitz’s criticisms of to-do lists have manifested for me. In a study we conducted of 100 productivity hacks, timeboxing was ranked as the most useful. And over the last few years, I have also discovered several additional benefits of timeboxing, which I would like to share.

First, timeboxing into a calendar enables the relative positioning of work. If you know that a promotional video has to go live on a Tuesday and that the production team needs 72 hours to work on your copy edits, then you know when to place the timebox. In fact, you know where to place the timebox: it’s visual, intuitive, obvious. Working hard and trying your best is sometimes not actually what’s required; the alternative — getting the right thing done at the right time — is a better outcome for all.

Second, the practice enables you to communicate and collaborate more effectively. If all of your critical work (and maybe just all of your work, period) is in your calendar, colleagues can see it. So not only are you more likely to plan your work to accommodate others’ schedules (the paragraph above), others are able to check that your work schedule works for them. Shared calendars (with attendant privacy options) are the norm in the corporate world now, with Microsoft and Google leading the way.

Third, it gives you a comprehensive record of what you’ve done. Maybe you get to the end of a blistering week and you’re not even sure what happened? It’s in your calendar. Or a performance review looms — what were the highs and lows of the last six months? It’s in your calendar. Or you’re keen to use an hour to plan the following week and need to know what’s on the horizon. It’s in your calendar. Just make sure you have your own personal (i.e. not exclusively employer-owned) version of this data, or someday it won’t be in your calendar.

Fourth, you will feel more in control. This is especially important because control (aka volition, autonomy, etc.) may be the biggest driver of happiness at work. Constant interruptions make us less happy and less productive. Timeboxing is the proper antidote to this. You decide what to do and when to do it, block out all distractions for that timeboxed period, and get it done. Repeat. Consistent control and demonstrable accomplishment is hugely satisfying, even addictive. This is not just about productivity (largely external), this is about intent (internal, visceral) and how we feel.

Fifth, you will be substantially more productive. Parkinson’s law flippantly states that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. Although it’s not really a law (it’s more of a wry observation), most of us would concede that there is some truth to it (especially as it pertains to meetings). A corollary of this observation in practice is that we often spend more time on a task than we should, influenced by the time that happens to be available (circumstantial) rather than how long the work should really take (objective). Disciplined timeboxing breaks us free of Parkinson’s law by imposing a sensible, finite time for a task and sticking to that. Although it’s hard to precisely quantify the benefits of any time management or productivity measures, this is clearly enormous. Just take a commonplace example: do you habitually take two hours (cumulatively, often drawn out over multiple sessions) to complete a task that really could have been done in a single, focused, time-boxed hour? If the answer is yes, then your personal productivity might be double what it is right now.

The benefits of calendarized timeboxing are many, varied, and highly impactful. The practice improves how we feel (control), how much we achieve as individuals (personal productivity), and how much we achieve in the teams we work in (enhanced collaboration). This may be the single most important skill or practice you can possibly develop as a modern professional, as it buys you so much time to accomplish anything else. It’s also straightforwardly applied and at no cost. Box some time to implement a version of this that works for you."