17 August 2025

Guidance for High School Students Considering Tech Careers Amid AI Disruption

What this covers

  • The landscape

    What AI is actually doing to entry-level technology work, separated from what the headlines say it is doing.

  • Roles that hold up

    Where demand looks durable, cybersecurity among them, and what those roles have in common.

  • Advice for students

    What to learn now, and what to stop worrying about.

  • Pathways and numbers

    Routes in beyond a four-year degree, with the figures behind them.

  • What to emphasise

    The skills that keep their value when the tooling changes underneath.

  • For parents and teachers

    The short version, for the people being asked the question.

A high school student looking uncertainly at a laptop, illustrating the anxiety around entering tech careers as AI reshapes entry-level work

So many young adults and high-schoolers seem to be disheartened with the rise of AI in tech. Those young minds who LOVE to write code are being dissuaded to even bother studying the art of software development and learning how to create entire systems.

My advice is: Don’t be discouraged, but be flexible! Learn as much as you can, learn to harness AI to do what you need to achieve your goals because it is a skill and time multiplier. Here are some general insights for young people not sure about pursuing a tech career.

1. Understanding the Landscape: AI’s Impact on Tech Careers

  • AI is automating many entry-level white-collar roles. Experts estimate up to half of entry-level coding and software jobs could be wiped out in the next 1–5 years.

  • Routine coding tasks—like bug fixing, auto-generating code, and code review—are increasingly handled by AI.

  • Statistics:

Nearly 30% of software developers expect their jobs to be replaced by AI within years.

  • Corporate developers may have 80–90% of their code produced by AI tools.

  • 41% of companies surveyed plan workforce cuts due to AI by 2030; data entry and simple support jobs are most at risk.

  • Tech jobs are still projected to grow by 11% over the next 10 years (vs. 4% for all occupations).

2. Roles Likely to Remain in Demand and Less Vulnerable to AI

  • AI-Augmented Software Development:

Human developers are moving toward higher-value oversight, design, problem-solving, and orchestration of AI systems.

  • AI is a tool, not a replacement for creativity or complex reasoning at higher skill levels.

  • Sustainable Tech Careers:

Cybersecurity: Threat detection, ethical hacking, security analysis.

  • Cloud Computing & DevOps: Designing secure, scalable cloud systems, not just automated deployments.

  • Data Science & Analytics: Interpreting and modeling real-world problems from data, critical thinking.

  • Human-Centered Roles: Product management, UI/UX design, AI ethics, technology integration.

  • Emerging Fields: AI engineering, prompt engineering, overseeing machine learning model integrity.

3. Advice for High School Students

  • Don’t abandon tech careers—but adapt your approach.

Focus on core concepts: computational thinking, logic, problem-solving, algorithms.

  • Learn to use AI tools: GitHub Copilot, automated testing tools, cloud workflow engines.

  • Build complementary human skills: collaboration, communication, ethics, design thinking, creativity.

  • Participate in hackathons, coding clubs, cybersecurity competitions (CyberPatriot), and AI-focused programs.

  • Pick broad, flexible skills (Python, JavaScript, cloud platforms) and specialize later.

4. Stats & Career Pathways

  • The median annual wage for computer/IT jobs is double the national average.

  • Growth Areas:

Cybersecurity: Demand up 33% compared to 2020.

  • Cloud/DevOps: Cloud architects, engineers, SREs, high-paying and resilient to automation.

  • Data Science: One of the fastest-growing fields for new graduates.

5. What to Emphasize

  • Tech isn’t going away, but the basics are shifting.

Entry-level coding jobs are shrinking but roles centered on leveraging, managing, and improving AI are expanding.

  • Always be ready to retrain and upskill—don’t rely solely on one technology or certificate.

  • Explore hybrid roles and industries where tech skills are secondary to broader creative or analytical work: health tech, finance, green energy, etc.

Summary for Students (and Their Parents/Teachers):

  • Software development skills still matter—but the safest paths now blend tech, design, critical thinking, and AI fluency.

  • Cybersecurity, cloud engineering, AI/ML oversight, data science, and human-centered roles are resilient, well paid, and expected to grow.

  • Learning to use and guide AI is as important as learning to code itself. Adopt this mindset for a sustainable, rewarding tech career.

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