You do not need a crystal ball. You need a direction and a few good habits.

I do not know exactly what your working life will look like. Nobody does, including people who sound very confident. I have spent a long time watching how change unfolds, and I have three daughters roughly your age. Here is what I would tell them.

Things you can do now, not someday

Learn the foundations, not just the tools.

Tools go out of date fast. Understanding how something actually works - the reasoning underneath the software - lasts longer. People who understood old systems well were the ones brought back when everyone else’s shortcuts stopped working.

Get curious before you feel ready.

You do not need permission or a course to start experimenting with AI tools in whatever you are studying or doing. The advantage often goes to the person who tried early and learned from the result.

Build your people before you need them.

The market will tell almost everyone at some point that it has no use for them that season. What holds you up then is rarely a CV. It is the people who were already on your side.

Give yourself proper space to work out who you are.

Some countries build in a year with no exams and no grades, simply to find out what you want before the world starts asking what you are for. You are allowed to want that space too.

Let it be hard sometimes.

You are allowed to be frightened by some of this. That feeling does not make you behind. It means you are paying attention.

One last thing

Whatever happens to jobs, exams or qualifications, it will not touch the thing that matters most: you are not what you produce. You never were. Hold on to that on the harder days.