Career advice for the AI era

Career advice for the pre-AI era looked like this:

Work as creatively and productively as you can.

Solve not just the problem put in front of you but the broader problems it reveals.

Learn to use the most modern tools that can help you do your work.

Carefully check your work; assume there are errors, find them, and fix them.

Collaborate productively with others.

Promote the success of others; don’t take credit for their work.

Form many relationships within your organization, but also outside it.

Seek visibility for your work, both within and outside your organization, but not in a transparently self-aggrandizing way.

Keep half an eye on the next job in your company or in another.

Find ways to enjoy your work.

Challenge yourself.

Learn from failures — including those of others, not just your own.

Career advice for the AI era

Now everything has changed. Here’s advice for the era of AI:

Work as creatively and productively as you can.

Solve not just the problem put in front of you but the broader problems it reveals.

Learn to use the most modern tools that can help you do your work.

Carefully check your work; assume there are errors, find them, and fix them.

Collaborate productively with others.

Promote the success of others; don’t take credit for their work.

Form many relationships within your organization, but also outside it.

Seek visibility for your work, both within and outside your organization, but not in a transparently self-aggrandizing way.

Keep half an eye on the next job in your company or in another.

Find ways to enjoy your work.

Challenge yourself.

Learn from failures — including those of others, not just your own.

The tools have changed. But when it comes to human qualities and productive behaviors, the ways to succeed have not.