Andrew Ng, co-founder of Google Brain and Coursera, on the worst career advice being given about AI right now: He doesn't mince words about what he's hearing from supposed experts: "As early as earlier this year and certainly last year, there are a few people advising others to stop learning to write code because AI will automate it." His reasoning is rooted in a historical pattern most people miss: "As something becomes easier, more people should do it, not fewer. When the world moved from assembly language to COBOL, there were actually articles saying, 'Well, we now have COBOL. Programming is so easier. Looks like we don't need programmers anymore.' But the opposite happened." Andrew believes the same thing is happening now with AI-assisted coding: "As we now have AI assisted coding, a lot more people should be coding. And I think the demand for software, custom software, has no practical ceiling. So the cost of software engineering comes down, which it is, we'll just get more and more great software out in the world." But here's where the advice gets uncomfortable for experienced engineers. @AndrewYNg is honest about what he's seeing on the ground: "It is true that a fresh college grad that is really on top of AI will outperform a full stack engineer with 10 years of experience that is still doing things they were back in 2022, 3 years ago before GenAI." However, there's a nuance most people miss when they hear that stereotype: "The other piece that is less well appreciated is the best engineers I know are not fresh college grads. They're actually very experienced engineers that deeply understand architecture and the conceptual framework of how to think about computers and additionally are on top of AI and on top of these AI skills."