Where software engineering might be headed

As a software developer I share the anxiety of the current, changing software development landscape with many. It's tempting to handwave it and advise myself to learn from the past instead of being a doomsday prophet but the future is murky, as always. One direction to go in if you are just starting out and have the knack for it, is to be an AI researcher. The area will get saturated early because a) not many companies will be in a position to develop AI agents b) not many core AI scientists will be required - so, there will be high paying but relatively few openings. However, these systems will require a lot of data engineering, specially early on. AI systems are completely powered by statistics and will need a constant feed of data even after being built. There will be a competition in finding and integrating niche data sources as businesses try to outcompete each other in different domains. Data might become intellectual property and a potential market in patenting datasets, ensurin