Chamath Palihapitiya Warned Of Coding's Decline—Now A Laid-Off Meta Engineer Is Thriving As An AI Prompt Director

An engineer who was laid off from Meta Platforms Inc. META has successfully transitioned into a career in artificial intelligence prompt engineering, a field at the forefront of the latest tech trends.

What Happened: Kelly Daniel, previously with Meta, transformed her layoff into a career pivot toward AI prompt engineering, CNBC reported on Tuesday. This field was relatively unknown at the time of her transition, and is still evolving as companies begin to recognize and integrate these skills.

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After being laid off, Daniel was determined to stay in tech. She researched roles that valued her journalism and tech partnership background, focusing on companies resilient to industry layoffs.

She took a contract role at LinkedIn on the news team, contributing to generative AI projects. This experience with emerging tech gave her an edge in job applications.

Her curiosity and collaborative approach stood out as she edited and rated AI outputs, offering feedback and identifying key themes. This opened doors to deeper involvement in AI.

Daniel also gained practical skills like Python, common in prompt engineering roles. Combined with her experience, this helped her land her current position as a prompt director at an AI startup.

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Why It Matters: In March, Chamath Palihapitiya, a well-known investor and former Facebook executive, predicted that engineers would soon have only supervisory roles as AI advances, calling coding skills increasingly obsolete. He advised parents to steer children toward subjects like philosophy and writing, reflecting a broader shift in what skills will matter most in an AI-driven world.

The rise of AI has also led to the emergence of prompt engineers, who train the large language models to provide accurate and useful responses to users.

These roles often do not require a traditional tech background or coding experience, opening up opportunities for professionals from diverse backgrounds to enter the tech industry.

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