Anticodeguy

Strategy 1: Become an AI Adapter This is about transforming yourself into an “AI First” professional – someone who actively uses AI tools to amplify their capabilities and output. Remember Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman’s statement: he won’t hire anyone who isn’t already using AI. Shopify requires teams to prove AI can’t do a job before approving new hires. IBM is reskilling employees to work alongside AI rather than simply laying them off. Companies increasingly value workers who know how to leverage AI. As Andrew Ng put it,

“People that use AI will replace people that don’t.”

But you don’t need to become a programmer or AI engineer. Just try to identify how AI can make you better at your existing job. How it can handle the tedious, time-consuming tasks that drain your energy so you can focus on higher-value work that requires human judgment, creativity, and relationship-building. Early adopters are already seeing massive advantages. A study from MIT in February 2023 found that customer support agents using a GPT assistant increased their issue resolution speed by 14% on average – equivalent to months of traditional training gains. Junior agents, who benefited most from AI guidance, saw even larger improvements. GitHub’s Copilot tool helps developers code 55% faster on certain tasks. Legal professionals using AI for document review and research save hours per week on routine work, allowing them to take on more cases or focus on complex strategy. These are transformative productivity improvements that create a widening gap between AI users and non-users.

The future belongs to creators with personal brands, not anonymous specialists Read more about The One-Person Brand Blueprint: Standing Out In The Digital Economy Watch more videos like that on my YouTube @anticodeguy

Right now, AI is mostly confined to work that happens on computers. It doesn’t cook your dinner or fix your car or build your house. It lives on screens, processing information and generating outputs. But think about how much of the modern world is controlled by computer systems. The entire financial system – stock trading, banking transactions, payment processing. Commerce – buying goods, logistics, inventory management. Communication – the internet, email, messaging, social media, the entire infrastructure of how humans share information. The internet itself is humanity’s collective knowledge repository, the driver of progress and innovation. And AI has mastered working within that digital realm. Now robotics is advancing rapidly. Multiple companies are developing intelligent, humanoid robots controlled by AI. Some look like humans, others don’t, but they share one capability – they can perform physical labor while making intelligent decisions. Combine AI’s cognitive abilities with robots’ physical capabilities, and you have machines that can replace humans not just at computers, but on factory floors, in warehouses, in delivery vehicles. Tesla cars already exit factories under their own power, with AI driving them off the production line. This is becoming real, with clear outlines. However much you might want to deny it or look away, these are facts.

AI will replace you. Likely sooner rather than later. And it's happening faster than you think: --- The Fiverr CEO sent a memo to employees last year with no sugarcoating: "AI is coming for your jobs. This is a wake-up call." Within 6 months, searches for "AI Agent" services exploded by 18,347%. New job categories that didn't exist a year ago are now top-earning gigs. --- Here's the difference between then and now: speed. First Industrial Revolution took almost 80 years. ChatGPT hit 100 million users in under 2 months - fastest tech adoption in human history. New AI models launch every month. Companies automate entire teams in weeks. --- Goldman Sachs analysis: 300 million full-time jobs worldwide could be affected by AI automation. Roughly two-thirds of U.S. occupations are exposed. 25 to 50% of tasks within those jobs are potentially replaceable. The good old jobs are becoming unrecognizable. --- OpenAI study found 80% of U.S. workers could have at least 10% of their tasks influenced by AI. About 19% might see 50% or more of their work impacted. Mathematicians, writers, accountants, programmers - labeled "fully exposed." --- Duolingo CEO declared the company "AI-first" in April 2025. They would "gradually stop using contractors to do work AI can handle." New rule: headcount increases require proof that "a team cannot automate more of their work." Translation - if AI can do it, AI will. --- IBM paused hiring in May 2023 for roles "that could be replaced by AI." 7,800 jobs - about 30% of back-office functions like HR - were identified for automation over 5 years. If your job can be automated, your position is on borrowed time. --- Shopify CEO instituted the most aggressive policy: teams must prove AI cannot do a job before hiring someone new. Over 2024, Shopify's headcount decreased slightly even as the company grew. The result is efficiency gains from AI. --- Allen & Overy law firm partnered with AI startup Harvey. Over 3,500 lawyers began using GPT-based legal assistants for document drafting and research. A partner noted it could save "a couple hours a week" with warning: firms not adopting face "serious competitive disadvantage." --- Andrew Ng, AI pioneer and Google Brain co-founder, said: "AI won't replace people, but people who use AI will replace people who don't." That's the real threat - not the technology itself, but the gap between those who embrace it and those who resist. --- Major companies are publicly stating they're replacing workers with AI right now. CEOs confirm it. Researchers publish it. I experience it myself daily. The question isn't whether AI will affect your work - it's whether you'll be replaced or doing the replacing. --- Fresh article with the details on the topic: https://anticodeguy.substack.com/p/ai-will-replace-your-job-sooner-than?r=1m5hbt

The talented anonymous trap is killing your earning potential Read more about The One-Person Brand Blueprint: Standing Out In The Digital Economy Watch more videos like that on my YouTube @anticodeguy

AI will replace you. Likely sooner rather than later. That’s not my prediction. That’s what the CEO of Fiverr told his employees and freelancers in an internal memo that went public last year. Micha Kaufman didn’t sugarcoat it:

“AI is coming for your jobs. Heck, it’s coming for my job too. This is a wake-up call.”

The memo sent shockwaves through the freelance community, but here’s what really matters – Kaufman wasn’t theorizing about some distant future. He was describing what’s already happening on his platform. Within six months, searches for “AI Agent” services on Fiverr exploded by 18,347%. New job categories that didn’t exist a year ago – AI vibe coder, AI agent trainer, ComfyUI consultant – are now among the top-earning gigs. And Fiverr isn’t alone. IBM, Shopify, Duolingo, Klarna – major companies across every sector are publicly stating they’re replacing human workers with AI. Not planning to. Replacing. Right now. This is the knowledge worker’s Industrial Revolution moment. Except unlike the 1760s transition from manual to machine labor that took 80 years, the AI revolution is happening in weeks. ChatGPT reached 100 million users in under two months – the fastest technology adoption in human history. New AI models launch monthly. Companies roll out automation systems that can do the work of entire teams. I know what you’re thinking. You’ve heard AI hype before. Maybe you’re skeptical. Maybe you’re hoping this will blow over like so many other bubbles. But I’m going to ask you to stay open to what’s actually happening in the world right now, because this isn’t coming from me – it’s coming from people smarter, richer, and more successful than either of us. And they’re all saying the same thing in one unified voice.

Step 6: Teach Others to Cement Your Knowledge Sixth point – teach, transfer knowledge and skills. There’s no better way to learn than by teaching someone else. You condense information, present it as a structure so another person can apply it and do a project. This is the best way to learn. There might be impostor syndrome, but these are psychological aspects. Manson’s book helps partially, but it’s better to work on your psyche. Life is a big experiment, a project. All people, successful or not, initially don’t understand what they’re doing, but over time they get data, information, improve skills iteratively, gradually. Then they teach others, while you stand still. Teach, it’s a useful final step. This is a well-known phenomenon sometimes called “the protégé effect.” Educational psychology experiments have confirmed that students who tutor or prepare to teach others show higher understanding and retention. In a controlled study, participants who expected to teach the material later recalled more and organized their knowledge better than those who expected only a test. The act of teaching forces you to clarify and structure knowledge, identifying any gaps. As far back as Seneca, educators observed “while we teach, we learn,” and modern research validates this folk wisdom. A 2014 study published in Memory & Cognition found that simply anticipating having to teach led students to adopt more effective learning strategies and remember more. Furthermore, a 2018 meta-analysis of learning-by-teaching methods found significant benefits for the learner-turned-teacher in terms of mastery of the content. Teaching works because it combines practice, retrieval, and organization, which are all excellent learning strategies.

Step 5: Iterate and Improve

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

— Thomas A. Edison (20th century, American inventor) Fifth stage – iterative improvement. The first version of the project is only the beginning. If you’re making a program, code for others, improve it iteratively – make a second, third version. If it’s content, improve the content itself. In my first publications I see what doesn’t satisfy me, I try to improve it, not by rewriting the old, but by creating new with changes in mind. You become better, you transform the content, improving part of it each time. We iteratively improve feedback, the product, the project in gradual steps. Imagine what will happen in a year of active improvement – you’ll become experienced, projects will turn out well. The first version of my product ANTIghostwriter was not as good as I wanted it to be. But I published it and started selling. The very first sale was a disaster, because I received feedback (step 4 btw) with some mean words about my speaking in videos. I’m not a native English speaker and recording such types of videos (screencasts) was new for me. So I rewrote the scripts for every video in the product, reshot all of them, additionally checked all the grammar with AI, and published a new version of it. But this time with confidence, because it was a huge quality improvement.

Apparently OpenAI knows my age somehow. So am I not allowed to discuss sex with ChatGPT anymore?

Most people think they need to be world-class experts to monetize their knowledge Read more how Your Experience Is Worth Million Dollars: How To Build A One-Person Knowledge Business Watch more videos like that on my YouTube @anticodeguy

Learning by doing is the greatest way for skill acquisition, no doubt about it. But why stop here? You can master your skill by applying these 3 steps that accelerate your learning even further: (The first three steps read in my previous thread) --- Step 4: Share your work publicly. Even if it's incomplete. Even if it's imperfect. Build an MVP - minimum viable product. Something people can touch, try, give feedback on. Real feedback destroys your brain's protective fantasies. --- A study found feedback has a 0.7-0.79 effect size on achievement. People sharing weight-loss progress on Twitter (back then) lost more weight than those who kept it private. Every 10 tweets = 0.5% more weight loss. #buildInPublic works even for fat. --- Step 5: Iterate and improve. Edison said it: "I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Your first version is only the beginning. Make a second version. Then a third. Each one teaches you what the next should be. --- I learned this with my product ANTIghostwriter. First sale was a disaster. Customer left mean feedback about my speaking in videos. I'm not a native English speaker. Recording screencasts in English was new. So I rewrote every script, reshot every video, and published v2. --- This is kaizen - continuous improvement. Most people never get good because they never get past version one. They build once, call it "good enough," and move on. Don't do that. --- Step 6: Teach what you know. There's no better way to learn than teaching someone else. Studies show students who prepare to teach recall more and organize knowledge better. Teaching forces you to clarify everything. --- When you teach, you can't hide behind vague understanding. Every time you struggle to explain something, you've found a gap in your knowledge. You don't need to be a world expert - just one step ahead of who you're teaching. --- Here's how all 6 steps work together: 1. Choose a real project 2. Build consistently 3. Learn just-in-time 4. Get feedback 5. Iterate 6. Teach others Then loop back. Each cycle compounds your skills. Do this for a year, you'll be skilled. --- There are three fears that hold people back: 1) Fear of judgment - ignore opinions from people not in the arena. 2) Fear of failure - you will fail. That's how learning works. 3) Fear of commitment - you don't need forever. Just commit to the next cycle. --- There's no secret to mastery. No shortcut. But there is a path. Stop waiting for the perfect moment. Choose your project. Start building. --- Detailed article with research data and stats: https://anticodeguy.substack.com/p/iterative-learning-the-feedback-loop?r=1m5hbt

Step 4: Share Publicly and Get Real Feedback Fourth step – share your project publicly, get feedback. Feedback is the key step. After building part of the project, even incomplete, there’s a term MVP (Minimum Viable Product) – a product with the minimum set of functions for use. It’s imperfect, without all the planned functions, but acceptable enough to try, touch, and give feedback. This is important, the most effective way to advance as a person. You get real data from the real world, not fantasies. Fantasies let you down, the brain protects you, deceives you that you’re doing everything right. You can imagine how great everything is, but real light will show something different. Don’t delay with feedback, no matter how uncomfortable it is. I recommend reading Mark Manson’s book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” – it will help you not care about others’ opinions. Post online, build in public, get feedback, like I do. I write articles, posts, sometimes it’s cringe, but people like them, comment, the material resonates with someone. This gives information about where to move. If material doesn’t get feedback, that’s also information – you’re doing something wrong. Set up a feedback loop, a cycle of feedback with the external world and people, to understand how the project works.

Installed @jetbrains Fleet, trying to log in: getting a 415 error. Tried every possible solution for about an hour, still there. Guys, seriously? Okay, bye! Going to install Cursor.

The greatest leverage in modern business isn't capital or connections Read more how Your Experience Is Worth Million Dollars: How To Build A One-Person Knowledge Business Watch more videos like that on my YouTube @anticodeguy

Step 2: Start Building (And Keep Building Consistently)

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them, e.g. men become builders by building.”

— Aristotle (4th century BC, Greek philosopher): The next point – start building, begin implementing the project, and you’ll understand what to do. In the following steps I’ll write how the cycle works, but this step is unifying. After choosing the project, start building it, dedicate time to it, even if it’s small intervals, but to the project. The main thing is consistency, not intense bursts when you work 16 hours on a weekend. This seems productive, but then for a week you feel burnout, you don’t want to return to the project. It’s better to work one hour every day – the work is more productive. This has been proven by me and people who study productivity scientifically. Consistency is better than intense attempts. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Small regular efforts every day give a greater result, even if the time is less. The work is more productive, you try to fit more actions into the hour that move the project toward implementation. Research on the spacing effect shows that spreading practice over time yields dramatically better long-term retention than cramming everything into one session. Material studied in spaced, daily sessions is remembered for weeks or months longer than material crammed in one burst. In fact, spaced practice can roughly double long-term retention compared to the same total hours done all at once.

Okay, this is actually pretty dope: I connected Codex to my GitHub, fed it the repo, described the bug that users face, and after a couple of minutes it made a suggestion of a possible solution. Now I'm waiting for the real dev while he reviews my PR. Will it fix the bug?

Most people spend years "learning" but never actually build anything. But there's a better way to learn any skill - backed by research showing 1.64x better mastery than traditional methods: --- The traditional education model is backwards. It says: study everything first, do later. Reality check: I took a programming course, learned theory, algorithms, and methods. Then faced a real task and had no idea what to do. --- Here's what actually works: Step 1 - Choose a project you'll actually build. Not a test project jus "for practice". A real thing you'll show to people. Something useful to someone. --- Why does it have to be real? Because you need feedback. Test projects keep you in a loop of self-admiration. No one gives feedback, and you lie to yourself. Your brain produces the desired result. --- My example: I'm building a personal brand from scratch. After months of creating content, I packaged everything into ANTIghostwriter - my content creation system. It forced me to master every tool, refine every process, document every step. --- Step 2 - Start building consistently. Aristotle said it 2,400 years ago:

"We learn by doing them."

One hour every day beats 16-hour weekend sprints. Consistency wins over intensity. This is a marathon, not a sprint. --- Studies show: the spacing effect shows distributed practice doubles long-term retention vs cramming. Surgical training study: residents with shorter, distributed sessions retained skills far better than one-time intensive training. --- Step 3 - Fill knowledge gaps as you encounter them. Don't look for information in advance. Start doing. Hit a wall. Then learn what you need. I used to search textbooks, but now there's ChatGPT. Ask it, get results, keep building. --- 80% of knowledge is free online. Creators publish most content for free, then package it into courses. You're paying for convenience, not the knowledge itself. Use this. Fill gaps just-in-time. --- Real-world proof this works: Medical residencies: "see one, do one, teach one" German dual education: classroom + paid apprenticeships École 42: no classes, no instructors, just project-based coding All project-driven. All highly effective. --- Why this framework destroys traditional learning: Traditional: study first, apply later This framework: do first, study only what you need, keep doing This way knowledge becomes part of your working understanding, not memorized facts for a test. --- Choose your project today. What skill do you want? What real thing could you build? Block one hour daily. And start building. Don't prepare more, don't plan anything. Just open it and create the first piece. --- These 3 steps will get you functional. They'll take you from zero to competent with real, applicable skills. There are 3 more multipliers: feedback loops, iterative improvement, and teaching others. Stay tuned. --- For now read the full article on learning by doing: https://anticodeguy.substack.com/p/the-only-learning-by-doing-framework?r=1m5hbt

You have a million-dollar product sitting in your head right now Read more how Your Experience Is Worth Million Dollars: How To Build A One-Person Knowledge Business Watch more videos like that on my YouTube @anticodeguy

Step 1: Choose a Project You’ll Actually Build First step. Choose a project that you’ll implement. A real project that you’ll show to people, not a test one, not for practice, but one that’s useful to someone. I don’t know another way to learn besides a real project. I learned programming from scratch by doing a task. I could have spent years reading books, theorizing, but without a real project, you won’t develop skills. The project must be real so you can get feedback. Otherwise you’re in a loop of self-admiration, showing the project to yourself, no one gives a fuckfeedback, and we know how to lie to ourselves. The brain produces the desired result. There’s no point doing a test project for yourself. It must be real, visible to people. The project doesn’t have to be as large-scale as my query system. Complex tasks accelerate learning – I learned the basics, and the rest of the tasks became simple, I cracked 80% of them like nuts. This helps. If you’re building a personal brand, the project could be an article, posts, a content creation system. Come up with a system you’ll use and share it. An article is also a project. Take advantage of the opportunity. Choose a project, the main thing is that it’s visible to people. Use the #BuildInPublic tag, share your findings.

... So there I am, sitting in front of the computer, surrounded by textbooks, looking at the task I need to complete, not understanding which side to approach it from. I start reading textbooks, doing some basics. But I run into the first problem: I need to install a software environment to access the database. I need to have access to the server to upload executable files. We wrote in PHP, JavaScript helped with queries. Remember, this was a time when the internet wasn’t developed enough to find an answer to every question. There was no Stack Overflow where you could copy-paste code. Everything had to be written almost from scratch, which is what we did. I had a more experienced colleague, and I wasn’t shy about asking him questions. He showed me what programs he uses, what to install. I followed his advice, copied his experience. He showed me the foundation for my product. In the admin panel with database access, there’s a query system, convenient and flexible, allowing any query. My task – make the same thing for our database, an analog of this system. I started doing it. I have a sample, tools, a colleague I can ask, books from which to draw information. Then everything moves forward in iterations. I need to understand where the code begins. First, make a page with a connection to the database. I go to the book, see how it’s done, from the very beginning – that’s how any program in PHP starts, I figure out what a connection is, how the database works, I read the SQL book, connect, study the structure, and so on step by step. The Final Release By the appointed deadline, in one and a half months, from under my hands comes a finished product – a query system that we publish for users. The boss is satisfied, users not so much, because it’s complicated for them. I had to train them: I came to users, showed them how to use it, wrote instructions, posted them. This is where the real learning happened. Not in the classroom where we discussed theory. Not in the textbooks I skimmed. But in the doing. In the building. In the struggling and figuring it out as I went.