Assuming, of course, that you can push off all the cruft that your employer likely wants to dump in your lap!
I wonder when they'll start trying to entice retirees back OUT of retirement as the number of qualified senior staff dwindles and there are no "junior staff" ready to step into those roles? <frown>
Don Y snipped-for-privacy@foo.invalid wrote: |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"I wonder when they'll start trying to entice retirees back OUT of retirement| |as the number of qualified senior staff dwindles and there are no "junior | |staff" ready to step into those roles? <frown>" | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Cf. Joerg snipped-for-privacy@AnalogConsultants.com wrote via Message-ID: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net>
on Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2026 14:10:42 -0800
- |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"The world will remain analog. Past a certain clock rate all digital becomes| |analog again but the supply of analog engineers is drying up. Which is why I| |am yanked back out of retirement a lot. The next urgent problem is supposed | |to arrive Monday before 10am. Maybe I get a chance to walk the dog before | |it's here." | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
(S.
I see less and less demand for analog engineers. Even digital engineers. Implementations are increasingly moving into "writing text" instead of "soldering wires".
The number and variety of applications that can be addressed with "software" or other programmable technologies is probably orders of magnitudes greater than hardware solutions.
We can design *radios* (previously the exclusive domain of "analog implementations") with software. Signal processing at *television* rates, etc.
They'll be fewer analog/digital designers because there will be fewer jobs calling for those qualifications. Those types of designs are too easily reused (how many people design power supplies?) Too many cheap "modules" eliminating the need for folks to come up with a new design for each product offering.
I believe I posted projections for the number of such jobs projected and their salary ranges in a previous post.
The future (esp AI-safe) is with medical careers
Anyone know a dentist who works a *five* day week??
The Trades may have some protection -- but lousy (relatively) pay that will only get worse as more displaced employees look for jobs looking for low-hanging fruit.
Obviously the best career is COBOL programmer!
Of course, you'll likely have little say over where you work, what you work on, the hours that you work, your supervision, choice of tools, etc. But, you can be proud of the fact that you're *one* of a dying breed and, thus, invaluable!
<rolls eyes>*This* seems to represent the comments my colleagues have been making:
Amusing:
Developer Trust and Perception Toward AI Tools
...
Perceived vs Actual Productivity with AI Tools
I suspect at ~$20 a month most will keep the services available. But, they all seem to be returning to "their own devices" as they want results, not hopes. Especially once you've got (your) code in front of you!
I suspect the next generation will learn the value of specifications -- if only to assist them in instructing the AI as to THEIR goals!
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