"How AI turned my career upside down" by Javier Vergara
Back in 2010, I decided to study law. It made sense to me. I liked politics, and my family wanted me to pick a "traditional" career, something solid. To them, that meant Law, Medicine, or Engineering—nothing else worked. They thought: get a degree, find a good job, and make decent money. I bought into it, so I chose Law.
Here’s the short version: I didn’t like it, but I kept going and passed my Bar Exam. Deep down, since I’m someone who finishes what he starts, I figured: At least with Law, I’ll get a job and things will be fine. So, I finished, started looking for work (moved abroad later—another story), and saw how hard it was to get ahead. One thing stood out, though: law had no automation. Honestly, lawyers are terrible with tech, and they needed help. They dealt with tons of cases and contracts with no smart tools. Everyone just did their own thing, losing time and money—it was crazy. I thought someone with solid Excel skills or a little SQL could shine. So, I learnt some coding—just basic SQL, nothing big. I figured everything’s going digital soon, so I’d better be ready. Back then, "contract management" wasn’t even around.
I started telling lawyers they should pick up tech. Good Excel and SQL could help you in a big company, I said. I believed it—got a friend on board, too. Then contract management software popped up, and my idea fell apart. Why need a lawyer who knows tech when software handles it? Yeah, my new skills didn’t matter anymore.
Still, I had them, so maybe I could use them somewhere else, right? Then ChatGPT showed up. Even ChatGPT 3, the first real one, did better than me. I thought: I’ve got to beat AI at this. I signed up for a year of Codecademy, learnt HTML, CSS, and some Javascript—enough to do basic stuff and get it. Then ChatGPT 3.5 came out—way better than me, hands down. Okay, so learning coding my way was done. Why try when ChatGPT could write any code you wanted? It made no sense.
Follow us on: 
I thought, well, I’m a lawyer who understands IT—maybe I can still offer something special. But ChatGPT 4 hit with custom chatbots. Soon, you could make one do most of my thinking, only faster and more accurate. So, what’s next? AI can’t do everything yet—I’m still needed for some things—but I’m less useful all the time. In under 15 years since starting Law, the point of studying it has faded. If tech keeps moving this fast (and it will), being a lawyer might soon be worthless.
What about my future? Last week, I talked with my company’s mentor—I’m a founder now—and we agreed: most jobs are going away. AI’s taking them, fast. New ones will come, sure, but here’s the thing: stop waiting around! AI’s already better at your job—or it will be soon. Forget playing it safe—it’s a dead end. The one job AI can’t take yet? Entrepreneur. Not until it gets super smart, at least. Got an idea? Do it now! Don’t waste time in a job AI will grab. Start a business, think big, try something new. AI’s your helper, not your boss—use it to win while you still can!
Follow us on: 
