Molly Graham revisits her iconic 'give away your Legos' career advice in the context of AI, revealing that the advice is no longer straightforward when Legos are given to machines rather than humans. She discusses the widespread grief, loneliness, and burnout in tech, and offers a nuanced framework for what to delegate to AI and what to keep—emphasizing the importance of human judgment, vision, and accountability.
Summarized by Podsumo
Molly Graham's 'give away your Legos' advice is being reshaped by AI: giving Legos to robots is fundamentally different from giving them to humans because you retain oversight and mental tax.
55% of tech workers reported burnout in 2025, up from 44%, with grief and loneliness as major underlying emotions due to rapid change.
Graham advises treating AI like a junior intern—needing constant coaching and context—rather than a super-intelligence, and to keep human judgment and vision as non-delegatable Legos.
A key reframe: instead of fearing job loss, assume your job will always exist but will transform every few years, and focus on shaping that future.
"The narrative right now is: we hired this new employee who is the smartest you've ever met, and I want you to pour everything into them, and then they're going to take your job in six months. Who the f wants to do that? — Molly Graham"
"Change sucks. It also can be awesome, but we don't have to be fluffy bunnies about this. We can also just say this is hard. — Molly Graham"
"What would you do if you believed your job was always going to exist? It was just going to look completely different every six years. — Molly Graham"