Will AI Take My IT Job? Probably Not. But It Will Change.
The rise of the "synthetic experts" and fall of the "stubborn curmudgeon" at warp speed.
TL;DR
AI isn’t coming for your IT job, but it is changing rules. Just like cloud, automation, and every other tech shift before it, AI is taking the repetitive grunt work off your plate. The real risk isn’t AI itself, it’s the rise of “synthetic experts,” people who lean on AI without actually knowing what they’re doing. If you ignore this, you’re setting yourself up to be replaced, not by a machine, but by someone who knows how to use one better than you. IT leaders who sit on the sidelines will watch their teams become obsolete while the competition builds a smarter, faster, AI-assisted operation.
So you're an IT pro, minding your business, configuring servers and whatnot. Then suddenly AI shows up like that annoying coworker who always has to one-up you. "Oh, you spent three hours debugging that script? That's cute. I did it in 3 seconds."
The rise of AI has triggered existential anxiety across industries, particularly in IT. Every few years, a new technology emerges that’s supposedly going to replace jobs wholesale. We’ve seen this before with automation, cloud computing, and now AI.
AI isn’t going to take your IT job outright. Instead, it’s going to reshape the landscape of IT, making some professionals more valuable than ever and others, well... redundant.
As Gartner recently noted in their "Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2025" report:
15% isn’t a ton, but it’s a whole lot of busy work that probably comprises certain individuals vast majority of their workload.
What else?
“Jobs are being eliminated within the IT function which are routine and mundane, such as reporting, clerical administration. As they start looking at AI, they’re also looking at reducing the number of programmers, systems designers, hoping that AI is going to be able to provide them some value and have a good rate of return.”
— Victor Janulaitis, Janco Associates
Hmm ok, great take and I tend to agree.
Before you start polishing your resume for a career pivot to artisanal cheese-making, take a deep breath.
For the greybeards it does bring about a foreshadowing uncertainty that isn't just understandable, it's necessary for adaptation.
Let's break down why AI's presence in IT isn't a death knell, but a call to evolution. If you’ve been in the IT space long enough, this isn’t your first rodeo.
Technology Doesn’t Replace Professionals. It Exposes Them.
Being in IT my whole career has taught me that technological advancements don’t eliminate skilled professionals in of itself, it elevates them. But they also mercilessly expose those who refuse to adapt.
Consider these shifts that reshaped IT over the last two decades (that I personally experienced):
Mass migrations from physical to virtual servers – Those who resisted virtualization got left behind.
The rise of cloud computing – IT pros who ignored AWS, Azure, GCP, and SaaS adoption found themselves outdated.
The automation of IT operations (DevOps, IaC) – Manual sysadmins lost relevance while engineers who embraced Terraform, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines thrived.
The explosion of cybersecurity threats & zero-trust models – IT teams that failed to adapt to modern security postures became liabilities.
The blend of OT and IT - Operational and Information Technology lines blurred with sensors and IoT powering production and analytics.
AI is no different. The question isn’t whether it will replace IT professionals. It’s whether you’ll be one of the professionals who learns to harness it.
Agentic AI and LLMs will eliminate certain types of IT work, without a doubt. Some roles will disappear and others will consolidate. But if history is any guide, new roles will emerge favoring those who evolve. If your role has been built on executing predictable tasks without critical thinking, AI might just pull back the curtain on your limitations.
Don’t want to evolve? Well, like a blue shell hitting you in Mario Kart, everyone else is now catching up. AI is that artificial rubber-band catch up mechanic now in place.
Those that are catching up quickly have a downside, too. This is just another phase of learning and adaptation in IT.
The Rise of the "Synthetic Experts"
The ease of accessibility and utilizing AI in both purpose built platforms, and even embedded into business apps now, has resulted in an interesting scenario.
I call it the "synthetic experts" phenomenon.
Imagine a world where anyone with a chatbot and a prompt can troubleshoot a network issue, deploy a virtual machine, or fine-tune a security policy. That world isn’t years away - it’s now.
It’s not so simple though: knowing how to execute doesn’t mean understanding why it’s the right (or wrong) choice. AI gives instant solutions, but without critical thinking, it also creates instant liabilities.
And this is both thrilling and terrifying. It’s like Stack Overflow and Quora served on a silver platter.
In hindsight, this was me with access to the internet as a young teenager. I was not necessarily smart in the traditional sense, but I was fantastically resourceful, relentless with understanding topics, and had a great memory. Turned out to be enough of a cocktail to do well in starting my career. Thanks, internet.
In the manufacturing and distribution companies I work with, I’m seeing very regular use newish tech:
Distribution center managers are using AI tools to optimize warehouse layouts and dynamically adjust slotting.
AP teams are deploying AI-powered OCR and document processing tools to extract and reconcile purchase order information without IT involvement.
Marketing teams in industrial mfg are using AI to generate product descriptions and promotional materials.
Tasks that once required IT intervention are becoming democratized. Again, this is amazingly cool to see and yet scary at the same time. Maybe this is what HR means by “employee empowerment.”
But here’s what everyone misses: being able to generate a solution isn’t the same as understanding its implications. I’m going to handwave all the shadow IT, data governance issues, etc. for now…that’s for another article.
The real risk isn’t AI, it’s organizations mistaking surface-level execution for real expertise. You’ve probably noticed this when an AI generated piece of code, or something copy-pasted from Stack Overflow breaks and the person who put it in struggles to remediate the issue. Why something works the way it does, how it operates, what it’s implications are, and where the pros/cons lay is all a part of expertise.
When somebody who had relied on other systems without inherent knowledge, it will become apparent with the imposter syndrome that then takes effect immediately after. High and mighty confidence turns to dust.
Just as professionals who don’t adapt become exposed, those that have been naturalized through AI LLM’s without an understanding of how things work will as well.
Gap 1 above represents the synthetic experts artificially catching up. This is followed immediately by Gap 2, which represents the “expertise” skill gap that presents itself. As an exception, a few synthetic experts will be able to recover quickly though - they would have done this without the hamstring of AI or LLM’s eventually anyway.
This lowers the floor of entry into IT, allowing less-experienced individuals to perform tasks that once required a seasoned professional. Often basic tasks.
The Three Types of IT Professionals
In traditional B2B environments, I sort of see AI reshaping IT roles into three distinct categories:
The Automators (AI is Replacing Them)
Routine, repeatable tasks? AI handles them faster, cheaper, and at scale. This is definitely that 15% of effort that Gartner mentions.
❌ Who’s at risk? Script writers, basic troubleshooters, configuration managers.
❌ Survival strategy? Move up the pyramid or get automated out of a job.
The Integrators (AI is Supercharging Them)
They don’t fear AI. They wield it.
✅ Who thrives here? Cloud architects, DevOps engineers, security analysts.
✅ Key to success? Master AI-driven automation, infrastructure-as-code, and system optimization.
The Strategists (AI is Making Them Indispensable)
They bridge technical possibilities with business realities.
🔝 Who’s winning? CIOs, IT Directors, Enterprise Architects.
🔝 Why? Because AI struggles replacing strategic thinking, business alignment, leadership, and general human nature.
In general, the skillset floor has risen but the ceiling has stayed relatively stagnant (so far). The bottom of the skillset pyramid isn’t the only one affected though. Rest assured that everything and everyone is impacted. Middle management? Need less IMO. Leaders with big titles and yet still individually contributing? Likely even more of that. Doing more with less? 100%. This very much applies to your typical IT department in a B2B organization.
Here’s how this might look if we were to apply AI to skillsets in layers:
AI is finding it’s way into every part of the pyramid, and also making those things at the bottom like a rising tide. So what can one do?
How to Stay Ahead in an AI-Augmented World
For IT Veterans:
✅ Your experience is an asset, not a liability. AI doesn’t replace decades of contextual knowledge. You actually know how shit works on a fundamental level. While AI can generate solutions, it lacks the critical intuition that comes with experience.
✅ Stop resisting AI, start orchestrating it. Instead of seeing AI as competition, think of it as an augmentation tool. Use AI to enhance decision-making, automate tedious tasks, and allow yourself to focus on high-value, strategic work.
✅ AI can automate tasks, but it still needs oversight. Your role evolves into being a curator, validator, and strategist, ensuring AI-generated solutions are both technically sound and business-aligned. Learn how to guide AI instead of fearing it.
✅ Mentor the next generation of IT professionals. They might have AI fluency, but they lack real-world context. Your ability to teach nuance, edge cases, and long-term thinking will make you indispensable.
For IT Newcomers:
✅Your comfort with AI tools is an advantage, but it’s not enough. Mastering AI tools will help you get ahead, but real value comes from knowing when and why to apply technology, not just how to use it.
✅ Develop a strong business mindset. Understanding how technology impacts revenue, operations, and customer experience will differentiate you from those who only focus on execution. Learn how your organization makes money and how IT contributes to that.
✅ Build relationships across departments. AI won’t replace the human side of IT. Being able to collaborate with stakeholders, communicate effectively, and align technology with business goals will be important in an AI-enhanced workplace.
The Future Isn’t Binary
The AI revolution in IT isn't about replacement, it's about transformation. If your value comes from deep knowledge, problem-solving, and business alignment, you have little to worry about. In fact, you’ll probably become even more valuable.
Just as calculators didn't eliminate mathematicians, AI won't eradicate IT professionals. Instead, it will reshape the landscape, creating a divide between those who adapt and those who don't.
The real threat isn't AI taking your job; it's your peers who master AI outpacing you.
🚀 Are you and the IT team evolving fast enough? Or is that blue shell a knock out punch and you’d rather be a goat herder?