December 27, 2025
LLMageddon or just layoff lore?
Travel agents took 10 years to collapse. Developers are 3 years in
Are coders the next travel agents? Panic, pushback, and FOMO erupt
TLDR: The piece warns developer jobs may shrink faster than travel agents did, thanks to AI tools and tighter hiring. Commenters split between panic, FOMO accusations, and pushback that coding involves more than rote work—while some predict niche, “concierge” developers will thrive upmarket.
The article compares today’s software engineers to yesterday’s travel agents: a big boom, a brutal pullback, then a fast reshuffle as AI tools eat the simple stuff. Cue the comments going full soap opera. One camp thinks the analogy hits hard. User nacozarina floated the zinger that coders’ output is like “1970s travel agents,” and execs seem to agree, pointing to layoffs and teams not backfilling roles. Another camp calls foul: Nales accuses the author of stoking FOMO—fear of missing out—while selling AI workshops. Meanwhile, joshuahedlund fires back that being a developer is way more than “translating requirements into code,” rejecting the idea that coders are just button-pushers waiting to be automated. There’s nostalgia and snark too: bachmeier remembers 90s travel agents as “terrible,” cheering on the internet’s transparency. And doctorzook dreams of a “luxury travel agent” vibe for tech—someone to cut through the slop and handle everything—hinting at a future where concierge-level devs and corporate “TMCs of code” survive by going upmarket. The meme of the day? “Generalist travel agent” coders—code monkeys vs. architects—sparking jokes about who gets replaced by AI versus who designs the whole trip. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s very online: panic, hustle, and a dash of hope all fighting for the last seat in coach.
Key Points
- •US travel agents declined from 132,000 to 74,000, retail locations from 34,000 to 13,000, and total jobs fell 70% by 2021.
- •US airlines cut commissions in 1995, previously 60% of agent revenue, precipitating cashflow issues before OTAs’ rise.
- •By 1999, less than 5% of travel was booked online, indicating slower initial digital adoption in travel.
- •LLM usage exceeds 40% of the US population; developer adoption rose from 0% (2022) to 84% (2025) per Stack Overflow.
- •Corporate TMCs and luxury travel (e.g., Virtuoso) grew, while generalist travel agents saw a 59% drop in retail establishments from 1997 to 2013.