Let It Take the Boring Work

Today, as I walked back to my desk, I overheard someone say, “Take help from Copilot, It'll do a really good job.” The line followed me all the way to my seat.

I’ll admit I felt defensive. When a tool is praised for finishing in minutes what used to take hours, it’s hard not to wonder: in a few years, will it take our jobs?

This fear isn’t new. Every technology revolution has made people nervous about their jobs. What usually changes is the kind of work people do: the repetitive, low-value tasks get automated, and the thinking heavy work becomes the job.

Presentations, number crunching, first pass insights from data: that’s the boring middle of most jobs. If Copilot does it better and faster, I shouldn’t resent it. I should be glad.

The work I care about is the bigger stuff: building systems, fixing what’s broken, making things run better for the people who depend on them. That’s where my hours should go.

So the question isn’t “will it take my job?” It’s “what will I do with the time it gives back?”