Tabby Toney is from Oklahoma. She started in manual testing, taught herself to code, and worked her way up to full-stack development. In September 2023, she joined SumerSports working with TypeScript, Vue.js, and Laravel.
But AI changed her work. "The things that excited me — hands-on problem-solving, creative thinking — were being replaced. Every day became 'let AI produce results and then check them.' I felt more like a QA inspector than an engineer."
In May 2025, her company laid her off. But she wasn't panicked — she had a backup plan from high school: welding.
"Welding and coding are actually similar: both need precision, both solve concrete problems. But when you finish a weld, you can see something real. Code that AI writes? You can't see any meaning in it."
She's now in formal welding training, planning to leave software for good. "I'm 37. Many people think I'm going backward. But I feel like this is the first time I'm doing something I can fully control."