The speed of change leaves even the top technology leaders behind difficult to predict what’s next Yamini Rangan, the CEO of a $15 billion software company, HubSpotadmits he doesn’t know what the jobs of the AI-enabled future will look like—at least two years from now.

“As things evolve every decade, new jobs emerge,” Rangan said recently in Silicon Valley Girl podcast. “You can’t even plan for a job that will be there 10 years from now, or 20 years from now, or even two years from now.”

For Rangan, that career uncertainty is nothing new. Before becoming CEO, he served as chief customer officer at HubSpotand before in Dropbox—roles that didn’t even exist when he graduated with his MBA decades ago, the executive said.

So when his college freshman son told him he wanted to studying computer scienceRangan pushes her to continue her love—despite the growing narrative that “coding is dead.” Studying technology isn’t just about mastering today’s technical skills, it’s about learning how to think, he told his Gen Z son.

“What you can do is learn how to think, how to break down and solve problems, and how to ask good questions,” the HubSpot CEO said. “If you can do those things, education is very useful.”

He advises new workers to go for their job, instead of being a generalist. If her son wants to go on to graduate school or more specialized training, she said she’s “all for it.”

“The depth of an area, combined with learning how to learn, is what matters,” Rangan added.

The skills needed to get a tech job in 2026

However mass layoffs across the tech sector, Rangan revealed that HubSpot is still hiring — especially in research and development and sales. The company now has more than 250 open papers worldwidewhich boasts a salary of up to $400,000.

But standing out in an increasingly competitive tech job market requires more than technical knowledge. Rangan said he looks for candidates with what he calls a “scientific mindset.”

“I’m looking for people who are comfortable experimenting—having a hypothesis, proving that hypothesis right or wrong versus saying there’s a set path,” Rangan says.

Curiosity and the willingness to go deep are also important, especially when it comes to understanding customers.

“For AI to be effective, you have to be close to the ground. You have to know which parts of the workflow are broken, which parts of the workforce can really get value from AI,” Rangan said in Silicon Valley Girl podcast.

“My focus is, Don’t just use AI for AI’s sake, use it to solve real problems for customers. Can you ask the right questions? Can you stay curious to find out what really matters?” he added.

Knowing how to embrace AI is especially important for young workforce advocates, according to Andrew Seaman, a LinkedIn jobs and career development experts.

“While the job market is tough for career starters today, as entry-level jobs change, there is a real opportunity for candidates to rely on in-demand skills like AI literacy,” Seaman said before luck. “The great thing about these tools is that they’re easy to use. You don’t have to go back to school or learn to code to stand out.”

And despite the uncertainty of the future of work, overcoming adversity is the ultimate rite of passage for successful people, according to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

“I don’t know how to do this (but) for all of you students at Stanford, I wish you enough doses of pain and suffering,” Huang told students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2024. “Greatness comes from character, and character is not formed from smart people—it is formed from people who suffer.”

Like Jensen Huang and Tim Cook, HubSpot’s CEO includes a hectic work schedule

To stay ahead of the fast-moving tech industry, Rangan embraces a demanding schedule.

All of his workdays start at 6 a.m.—with meetings starting at 7 a.m.—and some days go as late as 11 p.m.

Rangan carved out Friday night and all of Saturday as protected personal time. She spends it walking with her family, doing yoga, meditating, and reading—rituals she says help her avoid burnout.

Sunday, however, was a different story. Instead of dreading the end of the weekendhe uses the day for focused, self-directed work—in part because he enjoys the quiet.

“I’m not afraid of Sunday. I’m enjoying it because it’s my time,” Rangan told an episode of The Grit podcast last year. “I decide what I learn, what I do, what I think, what I write. This is my schedule.”

He’s not alone in rejecting the traditional nine-to-five model in favor of a more energetic rhythm.

It’s Nvidia Huang admitted he works every day of the week—including holidays.

“I work from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep. I work seven days a week,” Huang said in an interview with Stripe’s CEO Patrick Collison in 2024.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also known as began his days before dawn.

“I can control the morning better than the night and the whole day. Things happen throughout the day that kind of blow you away,” Cook said. THE Australian Financial Review in 2021. “The morning is yours. Or should I say, the early morning is yours.”