5 tips to build a durable career in the age of AI

“We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”

That’s Amara’s Law, a principle coined by futurist Roy Amara. It explains how emerging technologies, like the early internet, are often overhyped at first, followed by a shift toward recognizing their value and integrating them over time. This thinking is a lot like what we’re seeing today with agentic AI.

Looking at the news, you’d likely think AI is coming for your job tomorrow. But that’s another example of short-term estimation. What’s more likely is that agentic AI will augment our work and how we use our skills, rather than eliminating our jobs entirely.

In this blog, we’ll explore practical advice for building your career alongside AI and for positioning yourself for long-term relevance as agentic AI becomes an integral part of software delivery environments.

These tips are based on a session at this year’s Tricentis Transform. You can watch the full session here.

Tip #1: Lean into soft skills

LinkedIn found that by 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change. Even those staying in the same role are proactively adapting and upskilling. The LinkedIn Skills on the Rise list ranks the fastest-growing skills that professionals should invest in to get ahead in today’s world of work. In the U.S., many of the fastest-growing skills on the list are so-called soft skills — areas where AI is weaker but is excellent at augmenting. For example, conflict mitigation, public speaking, adaptability, and innovative thinking.

What will ultimately set us apart is not access to technology, but our uniquely human qualities that AI can’t replicate, such as:

• Taste and judgement: Applying domain knowledge and experience to guide AI outcomes and make critical decisions.
• Empathy and human connection: Building meaningful relationships and understanding human needs in ways AI cannot replicate.
• Trust and reputation: Developing personal and professional credibility through consistent value delivery and thought leadership.

Tip #2: Know how to manage digital employees

Our newest co-workers aren’t the ones having lunch with us. AI agents have become our digital colleagues. But just because these agents can independently initiate actions doesn’t mean we don’t have to manage them. Agents are tireless workers who can apply the same quality standards across thousands of operations without fatigue. But they still need humans to provide judgment, creativity, and defined goals.

Think of an agent like a librarian who has read every book in the library but never applied that knowledge. Your job is to help agents apply what they know and give feedback, so they improve over time. Agents struggle with complex projects, so break workflows into tasks and delegate tasks to role-based agents by:

• Assigning entire workflows to teams of agents
• Specializing agents for different domains or responsibilities
• Defining success criteria, providing context, and refining agent performance over time

Tip #3: Be a continual learner with everboarding

To manage agents effectively, it’s essential to keep on developing your skills. At Tricentis Transform, Ihab El Ghazzawi, Regional Director of AI Channel PreSales at Dell, introduced the concept of everboarding. Companies are turning less to onboarding in favor of everboarding, which shifts learning from a one-time event to a continuous learning process. With ongoing training and skills development, organizations can ensure employees stay current as AI evolves, and new trends and tech emerge. Here are some ways to be a continual learner throughout your career:

• Keep a pulse on the AI leaders in your industry by following them on social media and listening to their talks.
• Gamify your personal learning path by rewarding yourself for milestones, like a nice dinner.
• Participate in peer learning by shadowing colleagues and sharing knowledge both ways.

Tip #4: Take a strategic approach to adding AI skills

As you continue learning, it’s important to be intentional about the skills you focus on. A survey by Salesforce and Morning Consult found that 53% of workers want AI-related training, but many employers aren’t moving fast enough to meet demand. As a result, 45% of adults plan to increase their personal spending on AI learning in the next year.

By understanding where your industry is headed, you can invest in skills that are and will remain sought after. Aim for a blend of domain expertise, AI literacy for the fundamentals, and data fluency to interpret, manipulate, and reason with data. Some skills to consider include:

• Effective prompt engineering to clearly communicate with AI and achieve optimal results. Create a library of prompts to accomplish common tasks.
• Awareness of ethics and responsible use to recognize and mitigate bias, hallucinations, and risks in AI systems and ensure AI is used safely.

Tip #5: Learn ways to use AI for your own workflows and projects

The final tip is about putting your skills into practice in your daily work. At Tricentis Transform, Mark Hinkle, CEO and Founder of Peripety Labs, shared the AIOS S.M.A.R.T. Framework, which his company developed to help identify tasks for AI automation. Hinkle suggests looking at how much time you spend on menial, time-consuming tasks — like email or expense reports — and determining which tasks can be done by a human and which by agents. The goal is to free up time for more strategic, high-value projects.

Here’s an overview of the AIOS S.M.A.R.T. Framework step-by-step method:

• Sort tasks that you commonly do in your work.
• Match those tasks to the ones that are most suited for AI and for humans.
• Automate the ones that AI can accomplish at an acceptable quality.
• Refine the tasks by providing feedback, updates to prompts, and examples.
• Take control of those tasks best suited for humans.

Technical skills remain essential, but as agentic AI permeates the SDLC, the ability to adapt, stay curious, and embrace new ways of working is becoming just as critical. To learn more about what it takes to stay relevant and grow your career, watch the Tricentis Transform session Building a durable career in the age of agentic AI.