Transcription
Every year I make a video predicting the future of the tech job market. And every single year people ask me what's coming next. Is it a good time to get into tech? Which tech skills should I be learning right now?
2026 is going to be one of the most pivotal years in the history of the tech job market. And the dust from the post-pandemic hiring boom has completely settled. The AI revolution is in full swing, and the way that we think about the safe tech careers has completely been shifted and turned on its head. So, in this video, I'm going to give you my full unfiltered prediction for the tech job market in 2026. We'll talk about the jobs that are growing, the jobs that are shrinking, the skills that will make you the most amount of money in tech, and the one sector that will be the safest and most lucrative place to be for the next decade.
Prediction number one, the end of the easy tech jobs. The era of the easy money and hiring for the sake of growth is completely over in tech. Companies are focused on profitability, not headcount. And what this means for you is that the bar is going to be much higher when it comes to tech hiring. Companies are looking for specialists, not generalists. They want people who come in and solve specific expensive problems from day one. They're not going to want to have to train you up if you want [music] to get top dollar. So jobs in cyber security, cloud infrastructure, AI/ML engineering and infrastructure engineering as well. These are the roles that are going to make the most money because these are going to be the core business roles that keep tech companies rolling and profitable for the next 10 years.
The shrinking jobs are junior level roles without a clear specialization, project managers on non-essential projects, and any role that can be easily automated by AI. So now is going to be the time that you need to figure out how you're going to niche down in this new AI tech world. So when it comes to figuring out how you want to niche down, if you're just trying to get started in tech, I do not believe that help desk jobs are going away anytime soon. Yes, AI is here, but help desk jobs and entry-level IT support roles are still needed right now. And until that changes, you still have time to get your foot in the door.
If you're already working in tech, you definitely need to be figuring out what your niche is going to be. If you work as a cloud engineer, you need to look at niching down. Do you only want to focus on AWS or do you want to focus on Azure? Do you want to combine different skills and become a cloud security engineer? Or do you want to take a different approach, which is what I've been seeing from different job descriptions and new job opportunities, is focusing on companies that are transitioning from AWS and Azure to GitLab. And the reason why companies are transferring their stack from the more traditional AWS and Azure cloud infrastructure platforms is because of AI. GitHub is allowing companies to become completely AI enabled to where their codebase is going to be able to be utilized by AI. So they'll have access to different AI tools. They'll have access to writing code with AI itself. And the only way that you're going to be able to do this for these companies is if they actually migrate from these different cloud platforms into GitLab and GitHub. So there's a completely new opportunity that's opening up for companies that want to be AI enabled and allow their software developers and software engineers to have access to different AI tools.
So, if you're trying to figure out what you should be doing to become more niche in your skill set, I would say just hit the job board. Start looking at the different job descriptions that are coming up. I'm seeing a lot more job descriptions that have AI in the front of the job titles. AI cyber security engineer or AI software engineer or even AI cloud engineer. There are different roles that are popping up that they want you to already have AI skills and allow their companies to become more AI enabled. So, this is where there's a lot of opportunity at. But the only way that you're going to figure out which skills that you need that align to what your background is or what you're interested in is by literally going to the job description, seeing what interests you, and then starting to look to see how you can develop these AI skills.
There's a couple of ways for you to develop AI skills. One of the easiest ways is going to be to go specifically to the vendor of the platform that you use on the day-to-day basis. So, let's say you use Splunk on the day-to-day basis. You can go onto Splunk's website and see what type of AI training they already have available for you. And this pretty much works across the board. There's also going to be a lot of different AI tech certifications that come out in 2026. Some that I've been talking about on social media are CompTIA's SE AI. Also, Cisco is coming out with an AI certification as well. Nvidia has a bunch of different AI certifications. So, you definitely should take a look at those AIerts. And if you all want me to come out with a full video on the different AI certifications that will actually help you make more money and become more marketable in tech, just drop a comment below and I'll make that video for you all.
My second prediction is that AI is going to become a required skill, not a completely separate job. In 2024, AI engineer was the hot job title. In 2026, every tech job will be an AI job. And what this means is that you don't need to become an AI researcher. You need to learn how to use AI as a tool to make you better at your job. So if you're a cyber security analyst, you need to know how to use AI to detect threats faster. If you are a cloud engineer, you need to know how to use AI to optimize cost and to be able to deploy more efficiently. If you're a developer, you need to be 10 times more productive with AI coding assistance. The skill that you really need to learn is prompt engineering, using AI APIs, and understanding how to apply AI to your specific tech domain.
And prediction number three, the rise of the boring tech jobs. Everybody wants to work at the cool, sexy startups, but those are the companies that are most at risk in a downturn. So this means that the smartest career move in 2026 is to go work for the boring companies in a stable industry. And some of those stable industries are industries like finance, healthcare, and especially government. And the reason why these boring jobs and boring sectors are better is because these companies aren't doing mass layoffs because their business is not based on the AI play. And these companies, they pay very well for tech talent because they have massive budgets. You're also going to get the work-life balance and they value long-term employees and they don't want you to get burnt out.
Prediction number four is that the security clearance is going to become the ultimate career mode. So as the world becomes more unstable, cyber threats grow, and the demand for clear tech professionals will skyrocket, this means that a security clearance is going to be the single most valuable asset that you can have in your tech career. And it's going to help make you more immune to layoffs because it guarantees you a high salary. It gives you access to the most interesting and impactful projects. And it gives you access to roles that most people don't have access to. I have even been seeing CEOs of startup companies step down from being CEOs and then go work for the federal government because GovTech is so stable. And I don't want you to get so caught up on the headlines. At the end of the day, as long as the government is here and the government is spending money, there will always be opportunities to make money in the government technology sector. So, every big tech company is fighting right now to get as much money from the government as possible and help them on their next AI mission. The government wants America to be one of the leading nations when it comes to AI. This is the race that we actually need to win. So, companies like OpenAI, Meta, AWS, Google Public Sector, Microsoft, there are many different big tech companies that are now fighting to get dollars from the government and to help them with their AI mission. And that's because when you are in this sector, it's going to be the most stable because once the government gives one of these big tech companies or startup companies a contract, that is guaranteed money and guaranteed work that they will have for at least 5 years. So this is the type of shift that I predict that we're going to see in 2026. And this shift is already happening with the announce of the US Tech Force.
>> The Office of Personnel Management is launching a new initiative today called the US Tech Force. They're going to work alongside all government agencies and several top technology companies including Alphabet, Apple, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and so many more. >>
And I believe that this trend is just going to explode in 2026. You will see news articles popping up every single day of tech companies that now are working with the government. Just remember that you heard it here first. And for you to be in the best position to take advantage of this new boom that's happening in tech, you're definitely going to want to make sure that you can figure out how you can get sponsored for a government security clearance. And you do not need to work for the federal government to get sponsored for a government security clearance. You can go and get sponsored by working at any of the big tech companies that are working with the government or you can go work for a government contractor company that's going to sponsor you for clearance. Now, I've made a completely separate video on how to get sponsored for a clearance, and you can just click the link in the description, and you can watch that video after this one.
So, here's the reality of 2026. The tech job market of 2026 will be more competitive, more specialized, and more focused on real tangible value. The easy jobs are gone, but the opportunity for those who are strategic has never been greater. So, I want you to stop chasing the hype in your tech career and start building real AI proof skills. And seriously consider moving into the stable, lucrative, and mission-driven world of the government technology space. And again, you don't need to go work for the federal government. Go look at some of these big tech companies and the other government contractor companies and the new government contractor companies that are coming up right now like Anduro or Shield AI and take a look at these different roles and see all of the cool work that they're doing.
So, if you want to learn how you can land your very first [music] tech contract and scale your tech salary, I'm having a completely free training that teaches you step by step on how you can get started. So, if you like this video, make sure you like, comment, and subscribe.