Blue collar work isn't safe from AI either: small-ticket trade jobs face the same junior-dev erosion
YoureSoWrongMan · reddit · 2026-11-06
A Reddit essay argues blue-collar trades face AI disruption — not through robotics, but by eroding the knowledge barrier for small-ticket jobs.
Key points:
- In the author's country, small jobs (leaky taps, boilers not firing) represent 14% of trade revenue but 25-30% of total jobs
- AI instantly provides the knowledge and tool research that YouTube tutorials never fully bridged, letting DIYers focus only on the hands-on work
- The dynamic mirrors junior software engineers being replaced: AI eats the low-ticket layer first, blocks new entrants, and dissolves an entire tier of the trade
Conclusion: "AI isn't taking the tradesman's labour in exchange for payment, it's taking their knowledge and tools — leaving them as simply the labourer."
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