Tim Sparks spent more than two decades as a user-experience designer at some of the biggest names in tech — LinkedIn, Amazon, Google. He built a career on craft, on understanding users, on the kind of design thinking that takes years to develop.
Then AI changed everything. Not overnight, but fast enough to leave him adrift. 'Everybody became a designer and an engineer and a product manager overnight,' he says. 'There aren't a lot of opportunities where someone like myself can just go make the next move. There are thousands of me on the job market.'
Even when a job offer seemed possible, the question lingered: would it last? 'It's not only put folks like myself questioning if we're needed. It's also cloud software engineers. Do I really need a software engineer?'
So he bet on himself. Sparks is building his own agency called Kestrel, where he helps small businesses learn how to integrate AI into their workflows. 'Once I've come to a consensus of what I want to do, I'll ask my agents to actually implement that.'
But building a business from scratch doesn't pay the bills immediately. He now drives Uber as a bridge. In between rides, he'll make calls for his AI agency. 'The intent is not to drive for Uber long-term, but it helps to keep the lights on. Hustlers are going to hustle.'
Two months ago, if you'd asked him if he was ready to build an agency, he probably would have said no. 'Being forced into the fire and having to really figure it out? It's not so bad.' At this point, he thinks forging his own path is a better plan than going back to the corporate world.
His story is one of thousands playing out across the tech industry — experienced professionals displaced not by lack of skill, but by a tool that can do the basic version of what used to require a career. The question isn't whether they adapt, but how, and at what cost.