Someone on Reddit put into words what I have been watching happen in real time for the past two years, and received 2.5K upvotes because people have been watching it too.
The post describes what they’re calling the most in demand job of 2030, and I want you to read this slowly.
“Consultant hired at 3x the pay to fix the massive disaster created by AI.”
And then they break it down into four phases that I have to tell you, I have seen the early versions of play out already.
Phase 1 is the CEO. They read a LinkedIn post about AI doing the work of ten people, they call a board meeting, and layoffs happen. Usually fast, often without a real plan.
Phase 2, the company is running on a skeleton crew. Junior employees are told to let AI handle the heavy lifting. Leadership is feeling good about the cost savings. The stock price responds well.
Phase 3 is where it starts to unravel. AI makes errors, customer service falls apart, basic internal processes break down, clients start leaving. And nobody quite knows how to fix it because the people who knew how things actually worked are gone.
Phase 4, the company goes back to market. Desperately. They hire experienced people back as independent contractors at three times what they were paying them before.
The original poster described executives as having “the object permanence of a toddler.”
DEAD
I have been saying this since Klarna cut their entire customer service team to replace them with AI, then had to rehire humans because it turned out nuance still mattered.
When Oracle announced 30K cuts and told the market it was AI efficiency, I asked how exactly they planned to replace 30K people with AI right now, because we are not ready for that.
Atlassian, snap, the cycle keeps repeating, and each time it does, companies act surprised by the outcome.
This relates to us because what is happening is not a clean, planned transition to an AI first workforce. We will get there eventually, I’m not saying AI will not replace roles. But right now, it is a series of short term financial decisions dressed up as innovation.
The chaos will not show up next quarter, but it will show up 6 to 18 months later when knowledge is gone, customer experience is broken, and the people who could fix it are working for someone else. Or consulting at three times the rate (please be me).
The Reddit post is funny because it is true. It’s a shame because its not that AI is not needed, it’s that we are rushing and flapping around like it’s going to run away forever and never come back again.
The most expensive corporate backtrack in history is starting. Klarna is proof of it, Oracle will show up soon, and the mid career professionals with real experience, real judgment, and real human ability to navigate complexity are going to be in very high demand.
But only the visible ones will benefit from it.
If you want to make sure your name is in the right conversations before Phase 4 hits, that is exactly what Career Grid is here for. Link below.
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