The career ladder is fading as AI reshapes work, LinkedIn exec says

• A LinkedIn exec says AI is breaking the career ladder and replacing it with a "climbing wall."
• Careers are becoming nonlinear, Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn's chief economic opportunity officer, said.
• Raman cited his own career, from war correspondent to Obama speechwriter to LinkedIn executive.

The days of climbing the corporate career ladder may be numbered.

White-collar careers have followed a predictable script for decades: get a degree, land a job, and steadily move up the rungs of the ladder.

But AI is starting to upend that logic and reshape what work looks like, Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn's chief economic opportunity officer, told Business Insider in a recent interview.

Instead of replacing entire roles, he said, the technology is breaking them into tasks — automating some, reshaping others, and forcing workers to rethink how they build their careers.

"Unlike other moments of disruption, it isn't coming from the top down. It isn't coming from the systems out," Raman said. "Workers are going to be climbing a wall, not a ladder."

A career that moves sideways

Raman and LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky expand on that idea in their new book, "Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI."

The "climbing wall" is essentially a model in which careers are no longer linear or predictable, but instead move in multiple directions depending on a person's skills and choices.

"When you're climbing, sometimes you go sideways," Raman told Business Insider. "It isn't just, 'Go to the next step in front of you and above you.'"

Raman pointed to his own career, from CNN Middle East correspondent to an unpaid intern on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign — a move he described as "among the riskiest" he's taken — to a role at LinkedIn that he said didn't exist a few years ago.

That kind of move to nonlinear careers, he added, can feel destabilizing and initially make people feel stressed because the rules are changing. But it also gives workers more control.

"On the wall, you have a lot more control over your career," Raman said, adding that people can build paths around their "unique capabilities and curiosities."

His comments come as tech insiders and AI researchers remain divided over AI's impact on jobs, even as companies tie layoffs to the technology.

Some, such as Geoffrey Hinton, the computer scientist known as the "godfather of AI," have warned of significant job losses, while others see opportunity, like Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, who said job cuts could create new business opportunities.

Forget the 10-year plan

In practical terms, the shift to a climbing wall means breaking your job into tasks and rethinking how you use AI in each of them, Raman said.

"What can I give to AI?" he said. "What's the quick summary or the first draft creation that [AI] can do?"

At the same time, he added, workers should use those tools to do something different and take on the grunt work, freeing up more time to collaborate with teams, work more closely with customers, or advocate for new ideas in meetings.

"No one is going to come knock on your door and say, 'We've figured out what your job is in the AI era,'" Raman said. "You're going to have to figure that out."

LinkedIn data from January shows that by 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, largely because of AI. So rather than planning five or 10 years ahead, he advises focusing on adapting in real time.

"Don't worry about solving the 10-year because that's not even possible," he said. "Just worry about building today you into the tomorrow you."

The ladder is fading

LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky echoed that view.

Speaking on Microsoft's "Tools and Weapons" podcast on Tuesday, he said there is "no such thing as a linear career path" and urged workers to focus less on titles and more on evolving skills.

He said workers should ask themselves: "What did I think I couldn't do that now, if I really embrace AI, I can actually do more of that?"

"It's a reframing of what we historically thought it meant to be in a career, or what a career was made of," he said.