Hello name-friend.

I’m in a similar boat as you, just on a different timeline. I’m 10 years older, just finished a PhD in science/tech, I am autistic, trans (and “done” transitioning), and am concerned about these things.

One of the biggest aids for my mental health in all this was educating myself. Reading the news (or a Lemmy feed by extension) just isn’t it. It seems to me like you have taken a lot of criti-hype to heart. Most of the stuff out there is just seeded to drum up investments. Unfortunately, everyone else gets caught in the crossfire too. This includes bosses, which is why this is all dangerous right now. However, it will not keep going like this.

AFAIK, the maths stunt relied on proof-validation from computer tools. Humans still need to check it, and much like LLM generated code it will be very difficult to check, because it is trained to look as valid as possible. Agents have even been caught cheating before, Nd they might have done so here too. Essentially its just a magic trick. If you are not in the know, it looks convincing. If even senior mathematicians to validate these things, then we most certainly shouldnt bother worrying about it. But these corpos of course will use every bit of plausible deniability to drive up their stock prices.

This is criti-hype. If you arent excited about it, you are dooming about it. But both are the same thing. Overhyping what these tools can do. With your CS background, you are primed to realise this for yourself too. You know about all of the knew problems and BS the agent-first workflows introduce. Be critical and angry.

With that said, I made a personal choice not to branch further into programming because of all of this. I just can’t stand it. For you, retreating fully might not be an option, but you have a foot in. I think you will be fine. You were not too late. For me, even with a PhD, looking for junior positions at my age is tough. Ill have some other issues to figure out. But we will work it out for sure.

Good luck to you friend.

Subclinical might just mean that you (currently) dont have a support need, within the confines of what healthcare and disability services can provide. I am diagnosed but have arguably slipped out of the clinical zone. On paper I could probably have my diagnosis removed, but I know that this sort of mobility goes both ways. I think this is why recognising even subclinical autism is important, since life might suddenly change for the worse, and then we might need help.