For decades, careers had a rhythm. You started small, took the grunt work, and proved yourself step by step. That was the contract between ambition and opportunity.
I remember mine. I still remember walking into my first job as a C++ developer. For me, it wasn’t just employment — it was the start of a dream. The code I wrote felt small at the time, but every program carried the possibility of building something bigger. The hours were long, the debugging relentless, but I didn’t see it as grind. I saw it as my ticket into the future. Those early days weren’t glamorous, but they gave me the resilience, discipline and ambition that still shape how I lead today.
But that kind of start is disappearing.
The Vanishing Starting Line
Now imagine this: the very tasks that once gave me my foundation — writing, fixing, analyzing — are today handled by AI and Agents in seconds. If machines can do that flawlessly, would I even hire my younger self for the role I once performed?
A new Harvard study shows that since early 2023, firms adopting generative AI cut junior hiring by 22%. Not by layoffs — simply by not opening those doors at all. The ground floor of careers isn’t just harder to reach. It’s vanishing.
Disturbing Middle Squeeze
The impact isn’t equal. At the top, elite graduates — Ivy Leagues globally, IITs and IIMs in India — remain insulated to large extent. At the bottom, lower-tier institutions hold steady, often because their graduates are lower cost and looking for local or regional jobs. But the middle — the strong state and regional universities — is being squeezed the hardest. That middle tier has long been the backbone of social mobility. In India or globally, a degree from State University, was more than education — it was a ticket. You could start as an intern, rise to manager, and start your journey into the middle class.
That bridge is now narrowing at alarming speed.
So, we must ask if we are drifting into a two-tier world based on educational legacy in addition to the current two-tier world based on economic status. Either you hold elite credentials that AI doesn’t touch, or you compete in low-wage work where humans are still cheaper than machines?
And ⏩paradoxically, for the few juniors who do get in, the trajectory bends upward faster. With fewer in the pipeline, they move quickly, often leapfrogging stages. Careers are splitting into two realities: some never enter, others rocket upward. The same technology closing the door for many is propelling a few at unprecedented speed.
The Questions No One’s Asking
Everyone is debating “Will AI take jobs?” But the harder questions lie elsewhere:
– Who carries institutional wisdom if juniors aren’t around to learn?
– How do future managers build empathy if they’ve never lived through the grind?
– Are we creating a generational divide — senior leaders raised on ladders managing teams raised on AI?
Everyone says: “learn AI.” Of course — but that’s not the whole story. Harvard’s research shows only 3.7% of firms have adopted AI at scale so far. We’re still at the beginning. And here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can’t just skill your way out of a structural reset this big. Entry-level jobs have been the launchpad of mobility for decades. If they vanish, no certification can replace the missing foundation. The ladder itself has to be rebuilt.
The Road Ahead
We’re not just watching careers evolve — we’re standing in the middle of a reset. The choices we make now — as individuals, companies, and societies — will decide whether AI becomes a launchpad for opportunity or a wedge that deepens inequality.
For the next generation, this isn’t about simply “adapting to AI.” It’s about reimagining what a career even looks like when the first rung no longer exists. Because let’s be clear: the ladder hasn’t just gotten harder to climb. Its very design has collapsed.
So the real challenge is the one in the title: who builds the next one?
For Leaders
- Audit your pipeline: where will tomorrow’s leaders come from if entry roles vanish? Build intentional apprenticeships.
- Shift L&D from courses to practice: rotations where juniors shadow real decision-making — even if AI could do the task.
- Ask yourself: “Would I hire myself for the role I perform today?” If not, re-skill and reset expectations.
- Redesign entry roles: Don’t just dump grunt work on AI — create hybrid tasks where juniors learn judgment, context, and client exposure.
- Give every junior an AI playbook: not just how to use AI, but why the business context matters.
- Measure learning, not just output: add “knowledge gained” as a performance metric, not just “tasks completed.”
For New Entrants
- Stay curious: curiosity is your true differentiator in an AI-saturated world.
- Build your Digital Twin: design a system where your digital identity orchestrates personal digital assistants + role-specific agents.
- Use AI as baseline: automate the basics, focus on judgment, creativity, and storytelling.
- Adopt a sprint mindset: start early, learn fast, fail faster. Weekly feedback loops, not yearly reviews.
- Choose JOMO over FOMO: double down on 2–3 compounding skills, ignore the noise.
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