AI and Career Growth: Why Early Talent Still Needs Investment in the Age of Copilot

Everyone involved in planning AI adoption or leading teams that are using AI should check out this episode of Mark Russinovich and Scott Hanselman's podcast (linked in the comments).

This is the most straightforward and applicable breakdown of how AI use will impact different career levels in varying ways that I've heard; and while the discussion is focused on developer career paths, I believe 80-90% of the value applies to all roles and businesses.

Some key takeaways for me:

➡️ Those who already know how to do the thing they are seeking AI's help with will get the best boost from using AI.
➡️ Sifting fact from hallucination slows down those who are early in career the most.
➡️ That learning journey must be seen as a feature, not as a bug. Those with the most experience today are not going to be with your company forever.

And one area where I disagree:

We cannot rely on large companies to be the mid- to senior-level worker pipeline for everyone. Smaller businesses that see AI as a path to stop investing in learning need to rethink with a view of the bigger and longer-term picture.

This is definitely a topic that needs to be talked about more thoroughly and more often. Longer term Responsible AI depends on the decisions all businesses make about early career employees today.

First posted on Linkedin on 11/04/2025 -> View Linkedin post here