You'll Lose Your Job in 2027 — Elena Verna

Source: https://www.elenaverna.com/p/youll-lose-your-job-in-2027 (fetched via defuddle on 2026-05-22)

Author: Elena Verna (growth advisor, ex-SurveyMonkey/MongoDB/Miro/Lovable; writes the Growth Scoop newsletter on Substack).

Sponsored content from Optimizely and Amplitude appears mid-article and is preserved here only for fidelity to the original.

Assume that your current role is close to its expiration date.

For anyone working in tech, I'm sorry to say this, but there's a real chance you will not have the same job by the end of 2027.

Some of that will be because of layoffs. Intuit and Meta just announced cuts, and I don't think anyone seriously believes we're done seeing more.

But even if you keep your seat, your actual job is going to change. A lot. The responsibilities, expectations, tools, scope of what you're capable of accomplishing, bar for what 'good' looks like, and number of people needed to do the work are all being rewritten every day.

It's already happening to me. I know it will affect you too. In some cases, I fired myself out of parts of my own role. In other cases, I got fired out of responsibilities by the pace of the company, the shape of the org, and the reality of AI. Things I used to own either became less relevant, moved to someone else, got automated, or needed a totally different operating model.

So yes, I technically stayed at the same company. But I do not have the same job. And more likely than not, neither will you.

Change is coming. Which is great news.

You get to decide what to do about it.

Be honest about the reality. Then prepare.

Step 1: Ask yourself: do you actually like your job?

This is uncomfortable, especially if you've been in it for a while. But as things keep changing, the competition is going to get more intense. You're not going to win out in the same role over someone who loves what they do.

And if there are going to be dramatic changes in your role, maybe this is a chance to finally pivot into something you do get excited about. Maybe a more niche speciality. Maybe switching industries. Maybe going back to IC work (which is what I did).

Step 2: Start exploring career optionality.

If you've been telling yourself, 'I'm too risk averse to go out on my own. I need the stability of a full-time gig,' here's the news: your current path is no longer a safe, stable option.

Even before all of this rapid AI transformation, the stability of full-time work has been pretty sus: If you're junior, you're the closest to being replaced. If you're senior, you're an expensive line item.

So get started right now. Solopreneurship doesn't happen overnight. I wouldn't recommend that anyone should leave their job with no momentum or progress. It usually takes a while to figure out what you want to do and what the market will pay for, so start that process right now.

Optionality 1: Your skill IS the product.

This usually leads to a services business: consulting, advising, freelancing — trading time for money outside a full-time employment model.

I started investing in this path about five years ago. Today, I make more from solopreneurship than I do from the cash comp of my full-time role. Think of your brain as a product:

Acquisition: Tell your network you're looking for 1-2 clients. Share your unique POV on LinkedIn or Substack. Counter-pitch recruiters. Post your Claude Skills (and Lovable skills, obvi).
Activation & Retention: What's the 'Ah ha!' moment you deliver? Unique value proposition? One-off or ongoing?
Monetization: Hourly rate is a starting point, but monthly retainers protect your time.

Optionality 2: Get yourself a Mom 'n' Pop SaaS.

Take your specific expertise, package it into software for a niche audience, and sell it. Not every software business needs to become a venture-backed unicorn cosplay exercise. Keep it small, useful, profitable, and yours. Maybe it only makes $3k/month. But $3k/month in semi-passive income is amazing. With the cost of development disappearing, this has very positive ROI.

Lack of technical background is no longer your blocker — AI tools help you build the actual thing.

Step 3: Become AI native.

Getting good at this will help you keep your job, reshape your job, or find your next one. Start small. AI-native is not about having an LLM open in your browser all the time. It's about how you think about the value of your work and how you approach it.

I see AI-native-ness as a series of tiers:

Tier 1: Writing buddy

Use AI to improve the clarity of your written communication. Pro-tip: write your own version and then have AI critique it, so you actually learn. Don't be sloppy.

Prompt examples: "Make this more clear" · "Help me make my point" · "Add more evidence to back this up" · "Rewrite this so a skeptical exec would buy in"

Tier 2: Meeting partner

Granola is in every meeting with me. It writes my todos, reminds me what I committed to, and it legit gives me good manager feedback.

Prompt examples: "If you were my manager, what are my strengths and areas for improvement?" · "Summarize the decisions and who owns what" · "What did I miss that I should follow up on?" · "Where did I talk too much or not enough?"

Tier 3: Thinking partner

LLMs are agreeable to a fault and will 'Great point!' you to death. But approach differently: AI can help challenge your logic, find holes in your thinking, pressure-test your strategy, and bring in additional research.

Prompt examples: "Disagree with me. What's the strongest counter-argument?" · "Give me 20 ideas, then cut to the 3 best" · "What am I missing or being naive about here?" · "Do some deep research"

Tier 4: Builder

Don't just talk about it. Build it. Internal tools, external apps, landing pages, full websites, prototypes — anything.

Prompt examples: "Build my idea, then create 2 versions that solve this problem better" · "Build me a working prototype of this flow" · "Make a quick internal tool that does X" · "Turn this PRD into something I can click through"

Tier 5: Shipping to prod

Yes, you, non-technical person. You can actually create code that goes into the core offering of your company's product. Instant superpower and job security unlock.

Prompt examples: "Fix this bug" · "Change this text" · "Make the following changes to this flow"

Tier 6: Agents

The next level — but proceed with caution. Agents are great when you have strong context and lots of repetitive tasks. But they often require more setup, oversight, and cost than just doing the thing yourself. Worth checking out, but beware the hype. (And no, that AI chatbot on your site is NOT an agent.)

Prompt examples: "Every Monday, summarize last week's sales and post to #revenue" · "Each morning, pull yesterday's signups from the DB and email me a digest" · "Watch competitor pricing pages and ping me on any changes"

Throughout all of this, the most important skill you can have is creating clarity in all the chaos. If you don't know what matters, what good looks like, or where to focus — AI just helps you do the wrong thing faster.

So, you're gonna lose your job. What are you going to do about it?

Even if you're at the same company with the same title, I'd be shocked if you're doing the same work. I got 'fired' from my role as a manager a few months ago, to transition into doing IC work. You can't avoid this kind of change. But there's still time to prepare yourself.