The main benefit of bootcamps was building real-world projects and job-ready portfolios. Pay an AI service $20, and anyone can have that in a week.

This puts EVERYONE at a level playing field in terms of projects. So what does the market actually need? In my experience, it's critical thinking skills. Not even the rote knowledge of Data Structures and Algorithms, but the analytical skills to understand how these things work. There's a difference between knowing the definition of a linked list versus understanding why you'd choose one over an array, and their respective tradeoffs.

An LLM can invert a binary tree. It can make a To Do List app (or its most recent tech-bro form, a Workout Tracker).

Sure, an LLM can do system design for you, but can you argue back? Can you find holes in its recommendations? Does it satisfy your definition of good enough?

It isn't someone with the portfolio who's going to impress in an interview. And no, I'm not saying the job will necessarily go to the person with a university degree. It's likely the people who have put in the work on foundations, spending time to hone their critical thinking skills, system design, and even attention span, that are still going to have a future in tech.

The bar didn't get lower, the field just got levelled enough to expose the pretense.

Caveat: The person with the AI-generated portfolio and the right network can very well find investors and end up hiring the critical thinker as an employee.