Comment by blandcoffee

I would argue the opposite.

Grow up with a safety net and you don't take it seriously.

Group poor and/or with people depending on you, you understand the task at hand.

I goofed off a lot in college until I was tired of partying and realized I was going nowhere; about end of Sophomore year. All the older folks who paid their own way sure took it seriously. For reference, I'm also GenX.

I'm sure motivations range from what I suggested to what you suggested.

I think it plays a part. Just like personality does. And the college itself does. And the professors you get, and so on.

But really the insight is internal. And it's just insight, it doesn't dictate your response.

In other words I'm not saying this insight suddenly means you change career path. Most of us will go out and get jobs in an office, most will progress on similar lines.

The difference is in how you approach things. For example; if you see programming as vocational training then the language they teach you matters. If they taught you Java then you apply for a job doing Java.

If you see it as I did, then you see programming, not language. Language is easy to learn, and I've done serious work in at least 4 in my career. My first job was in a language I'd never seen before. Today I spend a lot of time in one that wasn't even invented.

If I had to go out and find work tomorrow I'm confident I can handle whatever language they prefer. I don't say that with arrogance- it'll take effort - but rather I'm confident I know how to learn.

Thus I'm not scared of AI. It's a tool, and I'm happy to learn it and use it. It won't replace me because I don't "write code", I program (and I understand the difference. )

So ultimately I'm not sure that financial status or whatever make a big difference. Ultimately it comes down to the person.