Are workers changing their career strategy because of AI?

Most research on AI's impact on jobs focuses on the demand side — and I'm guilty of this too. In my last article, I used job postings data to look at how demand for software engineering is changing because of AI. The short answer: demand is holding, but skill requirements are shifting fast.

Writing that article left me with one question: given everything we're hearing about AI taking over work, are workers themselves changing their career strategy?

To answer this, I looked at data from millions of online professional profiles from the US, focusing on three of the most AI-exposed occupations: software engineers, SEO specialists, and translators. I examined the next job that appears on a worker's profile after one of these three occupations and compared career trajectories over the past three years (2023–2026) with the three years prior (2019–2022).

Here's what I found:

Are workers abandoning their fields because of AI?

The short answer is NO, at least not yet. 

Across all three occupations, the most common next move was staying in the same occupation, and that share has remained broadly stable or even ticked up slightly compared to 2019–2022. Software engineers are the most likely to move to similar roles — one in two moved into another software engineering role — but even among translators and SEO specialists, where the shares are lower at 22% and 15% respectively, same-occupation moves remain the most popular choice and have held steady over time.

This matters because it is another signal showing AI isn’t wiping out occupations altogether. The apocalyptic headlines don't appear to be translating into mass exits — workers are staying in the same fields at roughly the same rates they have done in the past. 

That said, beyond this headlines, there are some interesting movements. 

Is AI impacting career progression opportunities?

Here there are a couple of interesting shifts. First, for both software engineers and SEO specialists, the share moving into management roles has declined. Only 6% of software engineers transitioned into an engineering or software management role in 2023–2026, down from 8% in 2019–2022. The pattern is similar for SEO specialists, where advancement moves fell from 17% to 15%. 

But, second, what's risen instead is entrepreneurship. The share of software engineers moving into founder roles grew from 2% to 3%, while for SEO specialists it nearly doubled — from just over 2% to just under 4%. 

This is a small, but meaningful shift: workers aren’t necessarily climbing the traditional ladder anymore, rather, they are building their own. 

This suggests AI is acting as a disruptor affecting the traditional promotion track, with workers appearing to be responding to uncertainty by taking more ownership of their career pathways rather than waiting to see how their organization may respond to mounting pressure to optimize operations through the use of AI.

Are workers pivoting towards, or away, from certain roles because of AI?

On the margins, we are seeing some movement - yes.

Among those who did change their occupation, the data is particularly striking for the field of software engineers. Of those who moved into a different role, we see a trend toward two new roles: AI and machine learning engineering (neither featured prominently in transitions before 2023). Meanwhile, transitions into app developer and Java developer roles fell considerably down the list of favorable roles in which to transition.

This suggests workers are making calculated bets as to where the market is heading, gravitating toward adjacent roles that feel more future-proof. 

What does this mean in practice?

Like job postings data, career pathways from professional profiles tell a consistent story: the AI apocalypse is not imminent. Rather than fleeing their fields, workers are strategically evolving. 

This analysis highlights the importance of looking beyond aggregate statistics to understand how roles are truly changing (or not changing) in practice.