How to Survive the 2026 AI Skills Rollercoaster

Another AI-fueled tech shakeup is coming.

If you’ve spoken to anyone working in local tech lately, you’ve heard the same exhausted confession -

“I’m tired. I’m confused. I’m one bad sprint away from buying a quiet farm up North where the peacocks roam and the Wi-Fi doesn’t.”

There’s SO much happening. Too much in fact.

Make no mistake folks – we’re only getting started.

While this is absolutely thrilling news for introverted A-type personalities with a type 3 enneagram twist – to most it feels like the ground is about to give way on them…again.

The rapid hiring and firing climate that has reduced hardened remote middle managers to frantic kids on a cake-binge sugar high is NOT going away.

Forrester said it best: “Disruption is no longer episodic, it’s ambient.”

Ambient, as in – it’s all around you, it’s everywhere.

The end of the year has bubbled to the surface once more, and it’s time to take stock. And this year, the stocks have never been more volatile.

And if like so many, you’ve been hoping for some respite – a bit of relief from the ups and downs, the loops and drops of this wild AI rollercoaster we’re on – you won’t get it here.

What you will get is a way to ride this track like you built it yourself.

So, tighten the seatbelt you’ve been loosening all year, the ride’s far from over.

In this article, I’m mapping out the 2026 AI rollercoaster - the loops you’ll hit, the drops you can expect, and the three strategies that will keep you locked into your seat instead of thrown from the cart.

Calm Down It’s NOT an AI Jobpocalypse

This isn’t a hype train, it’s a rollercoaster – that’s pretty clear.

I’ve been reading a whack of the latest reports from the biggest names in industry reporting – Forrester, Gartner, The World Economic Forum, The United States Artificial Intelligence Institute, Deloitte, the list goes on.

According to the most recent workplace intelligence reports, there is no evidence of a global AI job market crash. It’s not imminent and it’s super unlikely.

What the data HAS revealed is that because of AI and the blindingly fast process of hiring and firing – we can expect a TON more ups and downs, hires and fires – leaps and mass layoffs in 2026.

• Yale discovered since ChatGPT’s launch stability has held steady
• AI is following comparable technological shift patterns

So, AI itself isn’t to blame for the current job market shenanigans we’re all watching unfold IRL. This begs the question - if AI’s not doing it – who is?

The Highs and Lows of Corporate Efficiency

In 2018, Amazon quietly shutdown an AI tool that discriminated against women.

It was testing a mass hiring tool to completely automate the process of finding authentic talent so they could hire people super quickly.

Quickly being the operative word.

In tech, speed is power. The ability to hire, fire and reshuffle provides companies with high impact efficiency and the ability to scale at will according to their needs.

Because hiring has always been a tragically slow and expensive pursuit – you can see how Amazon would be amped by the idea of automating this process.

Imagine if you could hire and fire at the speed of light, guaranteeing great people at every reaping – while keeping costs rock-bottom? It’s the dream.

So, the Scottish team developed the AI to automate recruiting.

Three years on, they abandoned the project after finding widespread an unsolvable bias baked into the system. The AI was trained on data that mainly involved men, so it understood that men were the priority hires.

A cautionary tale indeed.

Of course, it’s 2025 now and 87% of hiring companies use AI hiring tools.

And no, these bias concerns have not been remedied.

• A University of Washington Study recently found 85% of selected resumes are white-associated names, with 9% being black associated only.
• Men are preferred 52% of the time, even in roles that have high representation for women (HR, school teachers, and the like).

Historical training data used in AI is creating a new generation of automated hiring bias. The people creating the tools are baking human bias into the automated process.

Unfair and uncool.

At Crossover, we’re acutely aware of this – which is why our AI is only used for a basic fit check, not as a final stage elimination or hiring decision screening.

So, today’s tech-focused job market is:

• Flooded because candidates can use AI to apply en-masse for jobs
• HR is constantly battling AI-priorities from corporate and bias tools

Because AI is an amplifier.

What should be the widespread democratization of job applications thanks to AI, has become a bias system, clogged with AI slop. It has a LONG way to go before it’s fair.

Regardless – this is key for everyone who may find themselves on the business end of a layoff loop in 2026. Hiring is an utter, unfair and disgraceful garbage heap right now.

ESPECIALLY if all your hope is pinned to your resume.

If this is the only data you can give a potential employer right now, you’re going to find yourself – like so many others – overlooked, ghosted, jobless and desperate.

Remote workers need to start seeing themselves as data sources.

The AI-Driven Skill Shakeup

Okay so we know 2025 was a year of upheaval, upskilling and general job carnage.

This is going to RAMP UP in 2026.

Dots are being connected that you perhaps haven’t considered before now.

There may be no evidence of the global job market collapse – but there is a HECK ton of evidence we will continue to face job volatility on unprecedented scales, massively widening skill gaps and companies investing billions into AI infrastructure.

Companies will be firing at scale – using AI.

In response all remote workers should be changing how they see their careers, approach their work, learn, and build skills.

It’s not just hiring that’s a dumpster fire, but firing is about to get its own version of this too. If you’re not ready for it, you could already be on a list somewhere.

The ONLY thing that shines through imperfect AI systems are proven skills!  

Top tech companies (MANGA) are using AI to hire AND fire their talent.

We’ve been saying productivity monitoring is the inevitable tech future for many, many years now. And what we’re seeing is large companies tapping into these systems to find the ‘low performers,’ and fuel their layoff loops to keep people working hard.

When hiring AND firing needs to be lightning fast, it helps to have data that points out who your top performers are, and who your sluggish lower performers are.

Real time, employee offered work data.

• Meta is starting to assess employee performance by AI-driven impact in 2026
• Amazon plans to cut 30,000+ more folks next year, according to leaked docs
• Google notoriously fires entire teams of people in project ‘ramp-downs’

Big tech companies (and many smaller ones) will be using AI to ‘hire and fire’ fast, in the name of efficiency. If you’re going to be an employee that never gets cut, or never has trouble being hired after being cut – you must pivot to the reality of AI at work.

Skill-building is your #1 line of defense - skills you can prove.

So, before 2026 hits, here are the three skill shifts you need to make to stay on the right side of the algorithm.

#1: Create Your Own Job Skill Stability (No-One Else Will)

The AI rollercoaster is a career-long ride.

Accept that it’s not a ‘bubble’ and that things are never going to go back to how they were. Even after the dot com bubble burst, the internet still existed.

Stop resisting this ride, you’re already on it.

Career stability needs to be self-directed, you can’t rely on your employer to give you job security anymore. It’s unrealistic and it’s a trap.

That’s why the first skill shift is about personal adaptability.

• Invest in your side income (hustle): 48% of Gen Z’s have a side gig on top of their fulltime job, 44% of Millennials and 33% of Gen Xers. Some 45% of side hustlers have home incomes over $100K.

Side projects or jobs are not only for money anymore – they build career agility, give you broader skillsets over time and offer self-directed experience for newbies fresh on the job market. A great side hustle is a net that might have to catch you one day.

• Invest in paid education sources: The internet was once a place where you could learn anything for free – but AI slop is reversing that. There’s a reason WHY news and big influencer content sites are increasingly gated. The best information is being packaged for sale – tap into it to learn faster.

This hits hard after the recent Thanksgiving turkeygate – where people were saying it was impossible to find great recipes, and the AI recommended ones didn’t work out. In fact, they turned birds into bricks a lot of the time.

When you have a side income and are constantly learning outside of your traditional job structure, you insulate yourself from anti-learning brain rot videos, complacency and allowing your career to devolve into a one trick pony.

#2: Become Visibly AI-Fluent

AI skills are great, but ongoing AI fluency is apex career-building. As of yesterday, you need to be AI-native and your skills must be endlessly provable.

That way you avoid the unpleasantness of being told your prompting isn’t advanced enough and you need to learn ten additional AI tools just to keep up. AI fluency keeps you learning and building with AI in your department, in your industry.

How fluent are you with AI tools?

Some 79% of professionals admit that they overstate their AI knowledge.

• Can you build them from scratch? Link together automations? Create agents?
• Have you ever automated an end-to-end AI workflow? Built an AI app?
• Do you use AI to amp up your technical proficiency?
• How many industry-specific AI tools do you use?

The second skill shift focuses on being uniquely hirable because of demonstrable AI fluency.

• Make AI fluency an ongoing priority: According to the World Economic Forum, your employers number 1 strategy is to upskill their workforce. The second is to automate processes and the third is to hire AI-competent staff.

Why not make yourself ultra-hirable and in-demand by rolling all of these into one neat package for your future employer? Graduate from AI skills to AI fluency and be bold enough to have a portfolio that proves it. Thinking out loud online with your results is also a great strategy for future-proofing your hire-ability.

New graduates aren’t getting hired, but people with mid-career experience and the skills to deploy and guide AI tools are, says Aura CEO Evan Sohn.

According to Microsoft CMO of AI at Work, Jared Spataro – the difference is speed.

• Be a pro at skill testing: Skill verification among tech companies is way up – consider the MANGA companies and how they’re choosing who gets hired. Like us, the only way to know if a candidate can DO the work, is to skill test them!

With 53% of all employers doing away with degree requirements in 2025, and 85% of employers embracing skill-based testing according to TestGorilla – you can’t afford to not be test-ready when the time comes.  

In a recent poll we ran on LinkedIn, we asked our community a question: “What’s your team’s biggest AI integration pain point?”

While some answers pointed to disconnected tools (17%), missing or messy data (26%), and weak leadership buy-in (18%), the top concern by far was privacy and compliance issues (38%).

No surprises there! People really don’t want AI watching them, logging their activity, or combing through their work files. Thing is, AI is already everywhere.

It’s inside Google, Apple, Instagram, YouTube - every platform we touch is powered by algorithms tracking, learning, and predicting our behavior. Trying to hide from AI now is like trying to hide from the internet in 2005.

You’re smarter than that – so whatever you do don’t get stuck in the hyped fear of AI invading your personal life. It’s already there.

A Cornell University study showed that workers paired with AI agents experience a 73% productivity lift compared with those not paired with one. Plus, the quality of their work improves! Work with AI, let it see you and bridge the human-AI divide.

Use this new era of radical visibility to become the kind of person whose performance stands out - not someone who hopes to stay invisible.

#3: Fill The Non-AI Skill Gaps

AI fluency will get eyes on you - but human soft skills will make you valuable.

There are dozens of studies and forecasts for what will happen between now and 2030.

They all say roughly the same thing – that jobs in the future depend on judgement, emotional intelligence, context, interpretation and LEADERSHIP.

AI can’t mimic these skills – and most people are short on them.

That’s what opportunity looks like!

• 63% of employers say skill gaps (not AI) are their biggest barrier to business transformation (WEF)
• One-third of all job skills will be obsolete by 2030 (!)
• The most in-demand skill in 2025 is still analytical thinking, with 7 in 10 companies calling it a must-have
• Close behind them is resilience, flexibility, agility, leadership, and social influence (aka empathy)

The skills strain is already showing, right?

Middle managers, the people expected to hold those complex AI transitions together - are absorbing responsibilities from eliminated roles during these layoffs.

62% report skyrocketing workloads.

Meanwhile, 1 in 3 US employees say constant workplace changes aren’t worth the effort anymore. They’re overwhelmed, fatigued, and ready for the peacock farm.

Then, 88% of HR leaders admit their organizations still haven’t unlocked meaningful business value from AI tools.

Hiring and firing is breakneck, managers are burning out and everyone panicking about using AI like a pro. It’s a snake eating its own tail right now.

BUT - if YOU develop the human-led skills AI depends on to work – then you’ll be the manager riding the AI rollercoaster to career success.

Businesses don’t need more AI users. They need AI LEADERS.

They need folks like you who will lead through AI tomfoolery, make decent decisions, interpret complexity, communicate clearly, and guide often-confused and overwhelmed teams through relentless change.

Ride the AI Rollercoaster Like You Designed the Track

If 2025 felt like a bad joke, 2026 is going to feel like the sequel nobody asked for.

The loops will be higher. The drops will be steeper. And the AI engineers running the ride won’t be slowing it down for anyone - not even the best remote workers.

But don’t forget the reality of the time we’re in!

This isn’t a disaster or a temporary state of chaos. It’s a skills GRAB.

The people who walk into 2026 upskilled and ready are about to level up faster than at any time in the last decade.

So, here’s your plan:

1) Build your own stability. No one is coming to save your career

Stop waiting for a calm job market - there isn’t one, it’s not coming. Create your own stability through paid, high-quality learning and a side income that grows your personal adaptability, broadens your skills, and ups your stability.

The internet is overflowing with AI slop right now. If your knowledge isn’t intentionally sourced, curated, or paid for - it’s probably useless and has no long-term value.

2) Become visibly and undeniably AI-fluent

We can all use AI tools Karen. That doesn’t make you AI-literate! You have to step into the deep end and push the boundaries of what AI can do in YOUR job.

Be a workflow builder. An automation creator. Heck, be a tool stack tinkerer!

Build yourself a glorious data-rich portfolio. Document what you can do, not what you can say. Hiring is a bloody mess right now, but proven skills will always get the job done.

3) Master the human soft skills AI can’t touch

Good judgment. Emotional intelligence. Leadership. Context.

This is where the real opportunity lives if you’re looking to be a mover and shaker. AI can generate answers, but it can’t decide which answers matter - or why.

Become the person who can make decisions other people trust. That’s the skill set companies protect, not discard.

So, 2026 won’t be calmer or easier. And it’s NOT going to slow down so that you can catch up. That’s wishful thinking!

But all of this turbulence and change is IDEAL for career building.

If you create your own stability, broadcast your AI fluency, and sharpen those rare-as-hens-teeth soft skills that AI can’t replicate -  you won’t just survive the AI rollercoaster.

You’ll love the ride.

Apply for your dream job here.