The Death of Coding: Why Chasing Tech Jobs Might Keep You Broke in the Age of AI and Bitcoin
Written by Massa Medi
Let’s get real about coding. If you’re still grinding through lines of code, hoping for your breakthrough app, it may be time to put down the keyboard. Why? Because the tech landscape has shifted so dramatically, what once was a gold rush now often feels like a race to the bottom. I’m here to make the case that learning to code and relying on tech jobs may not be your ticket to success—or even job security—in today’s world.
Stop Coding, Start Thinking: The Harsh Reality for Programmers
Let’s address the elephant in the room: Coding is no longer the hot-ticket meal everyone thinks it is. You’ve heard it all before—apps are dead, coding is passé, and yet, people keep at it. I run into programmers all the time, usually hustling for their next job, broke, and stuck in a loop. Why? Because, for many, coding is no longer the golden passport to high living. If you’re lucky enough to be employed, you’re often facing the cold facts: two weeks of vacation a year (if you're even allowed time off), needing permission for every minor activity, and, frankly, living more like a cog than a creator.
Even Barack Obama acknowledged the 'Learn to Code' movement’s time is up. AI models are already outperforming 60-70% of coders! Eric Schmidt, Google’s former CEO, predicts the vast majority of programmers will be replaced by AI within a year. So, when people ask, “What language are you coding in?”—well, honestly, it doesn’t matter anymore.
The Tech Dream Is Fading Fast
Splashy tech perks and Silicon Valley dreams? Those are relics. Just last week, Google announced its remote workers must return to the office at least three days a week—or lose their jobs. Why? Because tech giants are slashing costs left and right. The bonanza days are over; now, if you’re dancing for tech giants, you’re grinding harder than ever with less in return. Tech companies want 60-hour workweeks—Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, outright told AI workers 60 hours is expected for peak productivity. There’s no overtime pay; you’re just supposed to be grateful for employment. The grind has a new name: 996, which means 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—72 hours in reality.
Meanwhile, mass layoffs sweep the sector: Intel trimmed 20% of its workforce (about 20,000 people), Meta announced repeated layoffs across its divisions, with thousands cut just this year. AI isn’t just threatening programming jobs; it's devouring them. Check out the top posts on Reddit’s CS careers board: new computer science graduates are calling it a bloodbath. Stories abound of folks landing “dream” jobs in Big Tech, only to find relentless pressure, impossible standards, constant layoffs, and brutal burnout. Multiple posts reveal grads applying to hundreds of jobs with no luck, hiding unemployment from families out of shame, and only landing roles through nepotism or connections.
Globalization, Outsourcing, and the New Reality
If AI doesn’t take your job, outsourcing might. As Apple shifts iPhone production from China to India, there’s little sign of those manufacturing jobs returning to the U.S.—not when labor is cheaper and more dependable abroad. Not only do you compete with AI and global workers, but also with an abundance of other applicants, including Reddit moderators hunting for the same limited roles.
Why throw yourself into this mess? The programming “dream” is starting to feel less like a career and more like a modern form of serfdom.
Progress Stalls: The Tech Stagnation and the AI Mirage
Let’s call it: Tech innovation has been stagnant for a decade. The much-desired leap to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) remains elusive—a recent Anthropic paper revealed that today’s AI is mostly advanced pattern-matching, not intelligence. So-called progress is really an illusion of smarts, not the real deal.
In fact, AI agents will flat out “hallucinate” their way through tasks, often claiming to use tools or follow steps they never touched. Meta’s legendary researcher Yann LeCun admitted: every time a paradigm promises human-level AI in ten years, it turns out false. Bigger models and more data don’t make for better reasoning. If the AI bubble bursts, what’s left? We’ll be right back to mobile apps and microtransactions—dark UX patterns and 30% app store taxes, fighting for scraps in a landscape dominated by gatekeepers.
The past decade’s trendy pivots—Web3, NFTs, the Metaverse, VR/AR—either fizzled or imploded. With each flop, the industry’s confidence eroded. Even Google’s latest move—a $70 billion stock buyback—shows a reluctance to reinvest in innovation. Instead of building, they’re giving cash back to investors, signaling a vacuum of ideas and direction.
Tariffs, De-Globalization, and Economic Headwinds
The tech sector’s challenges are compounded by mounting tariffs and deglobalization. Elon Musk recently noted China’s stranglehold isn’t in raw material supply, but in their unmatched ability to refine and manufacture rare earths—critical for robotics and electronics. Without China’s heavy industry, western robotics could stall for another two to three decades.
Container shipping from China to the U.S. is down 30% year-over-year; the Flexport CEO reports that bookings industry-wide are down 60%. As shipping production and imports collapse, the impact—estimated at a $2 trillion hit to U.S. retail goods—could be felt as soon as supplies run out, potentially causing empty store shelves reminiscent of pandemic lockdowns. The message to businesses? Preserve cash and prepare for turbulence.
The Ghost of Web3 and the Rise of Stablecoins
There was a moment—not long ago—when Web3 threatened to become the next revolution, creating millions of jobs and birthing entirely new paradigms in tech, from decentralized finance (DeFi) to tokenized assets. But regulatory crackdowns choked the movement before it could blossom.
Yet the embers of Web3 smolder on, with the stablecoin revolution poised to break into the mainstream within a year or two. According to Citibank, stablecoins could hit a $3.7 trillion market cap by 2030—that’s a projected 20x leap from today. Stablecoin issuers like Tether, who reaped $13 billion in profits last year, are leading this charge, and even the U.S. Federal Reserve is relaxing rules around banks holding cryptocurrencies. Stripe, the payments giant, is preparing its own stablecoin infrastructure after acquiring Bridge—think of it as global money movement, stable and fast, with regulatory guardrails built in. Meanwhile, PayPal and Coinbase are pushing their own stablecoins, launching a full-on race for dominance.
Uniswap, a decentralized exchange, is launching its own “Unichain,” pulling in $400 million in Total Value Locked (TVL) and outpacing Ethereum’s mainnet in active addresses. Even MetaMask, a staple in the Ethereum ecosystem, now allows users to pay gas fees using stablecoins like USDC or DAI, easing the complexity for newcomers and signaling a shift away from traditional Ethereum transactions.
If you want in on the action, liquidity mining rewards on Uniswap are offering eye-watering yields—89% APY, for example, on certain pairs (like USDC/wrapped Bitcoin), though these are fleeting promotional rates. This influx of on-chain funds will likely spiral upward, with bitcoin taking its role as the reserve asset—think digital gold, central to the new financial order.
Bitcoin: The Unstoppable Reserve Asset
The smart money isn’t holding onto fiat currencies for growth; it’s flowing into bitcoin. Bitcoin—currently hovering in the $95K range (and routinely breaching $100K)—remains one of the few open investment plays comparable to an early-stage startup, but accessible to the general public instead of just venture capital insiders. The long-term trend? Unbroken. Some see bitcoin overtaking gold as the world’s foremost store of value. Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO, predicts governments will eventually hold bitcoin as a reserve, its share rising to, or even surpassing, that of gold.
AI vs. Bitcoin: A Clash of Capital
There’s a fundamental clash brewing: Will capital flow to AI and its infinite infrastructure needs, or toward bitcoin’s promise of preservation? The fact is, there isn’t enough capital for both to reach their wildest dreams. And, between the two, bitcoin looks far less like a bubble than AI. If that turns out wrong, well, you’ll find me “going down with the ship.”
Modern Serfdom and the Blockchain Cementing Class
Think back to the medieval period: Serfs were bound to poverty, their social status determined by birth. Breakout mobility was a pipe dream. The same dynamic may be playing out today. The bitcoin revolution is happening in real-time, and the real opportunity lies in stacking BTC for generational wealth. Meanwhile, most folks are tunneling through “Hello World” tutorials in Java, wrestling with basic React apps, or working on blogging platforms like it’s 2007.
"Why not blockchain development?" skeptics ask. Complaints abound about its novelty and frontier risks, but maybe sticking to yesterday’s tech is why you’re still hustling for scraps. As long as bitcoin’s price holds steady, those early to adopt could see their socioeconomic status locked into the blockchain—potentially for generations.
Here’s the rub: The blockchain is immutable. There’s no digital lord to revolt against, like the peasants’ Great Rising in 1381. This ledger will preserve the status quo for the foreseeable future. If you’re not investing or adapting, chances are your family will remain in economic stasis throughout generations—a modern take on hereditary poverty, but now traced and recorded for all time.
The Takeaway: Code, Don’t Code—You’re Still Stuck Without Vision
So whether you pour your energy into coding or not, your outcomes are increasingly determined by greater economic forces beyond your individual effort. Born poor? The brutal message: You might die poor, unless you spot and seize those rare transformative opportunities as they surface, like the bitcoin revolution.
That’s the unfiltered truth. If you’re still broke and stuck, the explanation might be in plain sight. The future? It waits for no one. See you on the other side.