AI is making older builders ambitious and blue-collar work look safer

'I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion' (47282777) is full of people in their 50s and 60s saying the same thing: a 51-year-old electrical engineer who found the guts to go solo, a manager back to building after years of meetings, a commenter with bipolar disorder who called it an accessibility tool. A minority felt the opposite, calling it unfulfilling, like getting an A on a test you didn't take.

Next to that sits 'So you think you could be an electrician?' (49910462), where the nuance was that electrician specialties barely overlap, and the sharpest comment asked who pays for blue-collar work if white-collar workers all lose their jobs. The pattern: AI is expanding who can build software while shaking confidence in desk work, and people are reaching for trades as a hedge.

The counterpoint is the circularity in that last comment. If the trades boom depends on white-collar incomes, the hedge doesn't fully hedge.