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This is a reflection on this great story in the NYTimes, "The Robots are Coming for Phil in Accounting."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/business/the-robots-are-coming-for-phil-in-accounting.html

It makes me recall the first 7 people that I replaced with a computer program.

I was still a very young developer, and in working with the team I found that I liked them a lot.  Good people, interesting backgrounds, and very kind.

I didn't expect to replace them in totality, it's just that I was able to code 90% of what they did manually, and those above all of us decided to take the opportunity to eliminate 90% of the positions.

I recall what one of them said: "If a job can be replaced by a computer program, it's probably not that great of a job, right?"

The main thing it changed in my life was the way I talked to my team, making sure that they realized that if they were doing a lot of mindless work, that a program could replace them, too, and to always look for work that required human thought.

To quote the article, "...as A.I. enters the corporate world, it is forcing workers at all levels to adapt, and focus on developing the kinds of distinctly human skills that machines can’t easily replicate."