CSI 5: The Rise of the ‘Disposable Job’: Why Roles Will Expire Like Milk

How to Stop Your Career from Becoming Perishable

By Sairam Bollapragada

The 18-Month Engineer

Ravi, a cloud engineer at a large Indian tech firm, was proud of his role. But just 18 months in, a generative AI tool automated 70% of his routine tasks. His manager reassured him—“Upskill, you’ll be fine.” But upskill into what? Two months later, Ravi was ‘restructured’.

The job wasn’t bad. It was simply outdated. Welcome to the era of perishable roles—where skills have a shelf life, and “safe” jobs vanish like yesterday’s trending hashtags.

Job Titles Are Dying. Skill Clusters Are Rising.

In 2005, a SAP ABAP programmer could sail through a decade of job security. Today, even cloud architects, DevOps specialists, and data analysts face extinction curves every 2–3 years.

As per McKinsey Global Institute, 375 million workers (14% of the global workforce) may need to switch occupational categories by 2030 due to automation and AI. Closer home, NASSCOM data reveals that 40% of Indian IT jobs will become obsolete by 2027 without skill reinvention.

Why? Because job descriptions are static, but AI is dynamic. With tools like AutoML, Copilot, and GenAI replacing swathes of knowledge work, many roles are becoming modular and task-based rather than full-time.

A 2024 Deloitte report shows that over 52% of Indian enterprises are replacing traditional job roles with “gig-style” skill clusters—short-term, outcome-driven micro-roles.

You’re not just competing with other professionals anymore. You’re competing with automation cycles. 

Solution?: Build a Career That Can’t Be Cancelled

1. Treat Your Job Like a Start-up Ask: Is my job solving a real-world problem better than an AI can? If not, pivot early. Don’t wait for your role to be sunset. Forecast your role’s expiration like a product roadmap.
2. Own a Portfolio, Not a Position Ditch the "one-job, one-skill" mindset. Create a T-shaped career—go deep in one area (e.g., cybersecurity) and broad across adjacent ones (e.g., risk, cloud ops, compliance). This cushion shocks when niches become irrelevant.
3. Create an Anti-Fragile Identity Relying on your job title is fragile. Instead, build your identity around problem-solving, relationship capital, and learning velocity. Make it hard to replace “you” with a plug-and-play profile.
4. Invest in 'Skill Funds' Like SIPs Allocate time and budget monthly to build 2–3 new micro-skills aligned to industry disruptions (e.g., prompt engineering, AI ethics, green tech regulation). Certifications are a bonus—but execution trumps badges.
5. Align to Roles That Enable AI, Not Compete With It The most durable jobs are in training AI, auditing AI decisions, designing ethical frameworks, or managing change in AI-transformed teams. Move from “automatable” to “AI-advisory” lanes.

Parting Word: Your job is no longer your career. Your ability to evolve faster than the expiry date of your role is. In a world of disposable jobs, make your skills recyclable, your mindset sustainable, and your value unmistakable.