vBrownBag
vBrownBag
vBrownBag
The AI Dev Skills You Need to Future-Proof Your Career
1 hour 4 minutes Posted May 26, 2026 at 9:31 pm.
Cold Open
Welcome & Introduction
Taking Vibe Code to Production-Grade Systems
Brian's Update: Dog Feeding & Building Internal Tools
Mac Maximus: Building on AWS EC2 Mac
Let's Get Into the Presentation
Agenda Overview
Is Anyone Actually Working Less Because of AI?
What Happens When You Don't Understand What You Built
AWS Root Account Horror Story
The Skills You Need in 2026
Tech Scene Overview & Job Posting Divergence
What Companies Actually Want: Utility Players
Hot Roles: ML Engineer, AI Engineer, Cloud Architect
The Layoff Reality: It's Market Economics, Not Skills
Now Is the Best Time to Start a Startup
Roles & Salaries Breakdown
This Advice Is for Everyone Not Just Job Seekers
What's Getting Replaced vs. What's Irreplaceable
How to Become an Irreplaceable Engineer
Maximum Viable Product
Building in Public & Social Media Strategy
Positioning Yourself Before the Next Wave
Brian's Closing Thoughts
AI on Your Resume = Getting Hired Fast
Using Brian's 30-Day Plan as a Claude Curriculum
Platform Engineering Hot Take
Wrap-up & See You in Seattle
0:00
1:04:22
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Show notes
Join us as Brian Hough (CEO & Founder of Tech Stack Playbook, AWS Hero) gets brutally honest about the state of tech hiring and what skills developers actually need to survive - and thrive - in the AI era.
Brian walks through his frontline perspective on why tech layoffs aren't about skills - they're about market economics - and what that means for engineers trying to stay relevant. You'll learn which roles are actually hot right now (ML engineer, AI engineer, cloud architect, full stack dev), why companies want utility players who can build end to end, how to use social media and building in public to get quietly hired, and why the engineers who thrive will be those who can go from vision to deployed system. Brian also covers practical strategies for positioning yourself before the next wave hits, including using roadmaps as a personal curriculum and leveraging AI as a career accelerator rather than a threat.
Timestamps
How to find Brian:
https://brianhhough.com/techstackplaybook
Links from the show:
https://roadmap.sh/python
https://roadmap.sh/ai-engineer
https://roadmap.sh/machine-learning
https://roadmap.sh/ai-agents