Thank you for being so open about your situation. The reality is that you have some hard choices ahead of you. Both the young child and your aging parent will indeed be dependents who increase the gravity of the choices you make. Some thoughts:

• It is very difficult to forecast what will happen in the industry three years from now. If you look back three years, it would have been impossible to predict where we are today. In fact, even one year ago, it was still quite the hype to talk about "prompt engineering" being the future of software development. That prediction turned out to be completely wrong within 12-18 months of it being made. I have similar suspicions about us projecting out three years from now.

• That said, one principle is that the cream tends to rise to the top, even in industries that are shrinking. I'm not at all saying that your industry is shrinking, but what I am saying is that even in shrinking industries, the best people tend to be kept. If anything, this is just an encouragement for you to continue being the best that you can, which will give you better odds regardless of how things shift over the next three years.

• Winter is coming. I've been telling people this for a few years, but winter is truly coming. As it comes, if we're smart, we will behave as animals do when we know winter is coming. We should store up, as you have wisely. We should build ourselves up for leaner times. We should spend cautiously.

• I agree completely with being present wherever possible for your family. What I don't agree with is the popular Instagram breathless profiles about people who are supremely physically healthy, spend all sorts of time with their family, and are yet at the peak of their careers executing endless hours of work. I don't think you can have it all. The truth is there's got to be compromise, and sometimes you do a hard thing in order to make another thing easier. Let me give you a concrete example: perhaps it is true that you can spend far more time with your child, but might it also be true that at a certain point, spending too much time with your child will tip you into not having a stable career later on? A career that arguably supports the totality of your child's development? I'm not going full "Cat's in the Cradle" on you or anything... but I'm just trying to say there are real tradeoffs.

• Lastly, remember that there is not a strict ordering of what is optimal for everyone to do. There is instead an ordering of what's optimal for you as a person to any particular job. What is optimal for a generic person might actually not be best for you, whether that has to do with your talents or interests, or your own opportunities. When it comes to forecasting the future, in addition to having humility around the error bars in any such prediction, be sure to also map possible futures to the ones where you have strengths so that you choose the path that is best for you personally. I don't know if an AI Architect role is indeed that best future for you — but you should have an introspective sense of whether it fits you well.

You strike me as very thoughtful and considerate when it comes to balancing various responsibilities in your role as an individual, a husband, a father, and a child. Your great sense of duty is a credit to you.