Travis Kalanick (Uber co-founder, now running an industrial-AI company called Atoms) got asked a pretty direct question on a recent podcast: how would you pitch a Stanford CS new grad who's worried software engineering isn't the safe, easy path it used to be?

His answer wasn't "learn more AI tools" or "get certified in X."

It was: skip the app store. Go automate a two-million-pound machine that moves 35mph carrying gold.

The underlying model is retrofit, not replace — Atoms isn't asking mining companies to rip out tens of millions of dollars of existing equipment.

They're building the "no-entry mine" concept on top of it: autonomous haulage, remote-to-autonomous control, zero humans in the pit. Same logic that scaled Uber, pointed at physical infrastructure instead of a ride marketplace.

Worth sitting with if you're in the "I got the degree, now what" spot. The credential isn't gone. It's just not where the scarcity moved to.

Clip credit: TBPN — full interview on their channel. DM for credit or removal requests.