In this video, the speaker delves into the role of AI in technology, emphasising its potential as a collaborative tool rather than a replacement for human talent. The discussion highlights a looming talent gap while also offering an optimistic view for seasoned professionals.

Harnessing AI as Your Professional Ally

Obviously, it would be remiss of me not to speak about AI, given that I'm in technology, and that's all anyone is speaking about right now. My opinion on it has morphed over the last year as I have got closer to using AI, and now actually programming again with AI, which is something I hadn't done for 15 years, and I'm now doing again, which is really enjoyable. As I get closer to AI, what I realized is that it is a thought partner, it is an assistant, it is something to collaborate with. I don't think there is any danger of AI replacing people with experience and with talent. I worry that younger people will not be given the opportunities to build experience because AI can replace the roles that they would have done, the roles that I did when I was early in my career. And so I think we do have a talent crisis coming, but as of today, if you are experienced in what you do, and if you're good at what you do, then AI is going to give you a superpower, and there's nothing to be worried about. In fact, there's a lot to learn, and it's going to be really fun.

If you've started your career in the last five years working remotely, I'd urge you to get out at least once or twice a week to mix with colleagues. More importantly, you need to meet your customers face-to-face. Video conferences don't build the same trust and understanding. I still get nervous visiting customers globally, but those in-person experiences deliver insights you simply can't get virtually.

Why In-Person Interaction Matters for Career Growth

So if you started your career in the last five years remote working or working mostly from home, maybe all that you know, and at risk of just sounding like a old middle-aged guy, I don't think this is wise for your career development. Personally, I would emphasize at least once, twice a week being out and mixing amongst your colleagues, but also wider colleagues from other teams in an office environment. You need to build your network and I don't think you do that going on Zoom and Teams calls. In addition, and really most importantly, you need to get out into the world and meet your customers. Meeting your customer just on a video conference is not getting to know them. There is only one way to do that and that is to go out there physically and it can be a bit scary. I still get butterflies when I turn up to a location on the other side of the world in an industry I know nothing about and I'm going to spend the whole day with those customers. I feel that tension and that anxiety, but at the end of it I know that customer, their business and then probably other members of the team I would never have got to meet during that day way better than I could ever have done virtually. So I think at the moment the world is leaning too much on the tools of communication saying, oh everything can be done from home. In theory it can, but that's not the way the world works and I don't think that's ever going to change. We're not going to undo millennia of the ways humans interact and build trust with each other just because technology improved and we had a pandemic.