The IT Guy Show

Episode 22: A Human in the Middle

The IT Guy Show

Show Notes

AI is everywhere, and so is the fear that it's coming for your job. But what if the real story is more interesting than that?

Eric sits down with returning guest Karl Abbott, tech leader and podcaster, for a conversation sparked by his recent article "AI Didn't Replace My Work. It Changed How I Work." Karl shares how leaning into AI tools didn't make him feel replaced. It made him feel more focused. The mechanics got faster. The judgment, taste, and narrative instinct? Still 100% human.

They dig into what AI actually removes from knowledge work, why being widely read and broadly educated matters more in an AI-saturated world, what "vibe coding" means for engineers, and what higher education needs to do to prepare students for a world where fluency can be generated but wisdom still can't.

If you've ever felt uneasy about where AI fits in your work, this one's for you.

Welcome to The IT Guy Show, your go-to destination for all things tech with Eric, your friendly neighborhood IT guy! Join Eric as he shares his wealth of knowledge, insights, and experiences gained from years of working in the IT industry. From troubleshooting common tech issues to exploring the latest trends and innovations, each episode is packed with practical tips, skilled advice, and engaging discussions.

Connect with me! https://linktr.ee/itguyeric

Article: AI Didn’t Replace My Work. It Changed How I Work

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-didnt-replace-my-work-changed-how-i-karl-abbott-eqbbc/

Chapters:

00:00 Stream Start

01:14 Karl Abbott

02:41 AI Didn’t Replace My Work

16:59 AI Replaced SOME Work

30:27 What is Vibe Coding?

41:33 AI in Higher Education

54:20 Closing Thoughts

01:05:59 Wrap up

Graphics and bumpers by Free Hive Agency

Photo by Luke Jones on Unsplash Special Guest: Karl Abbott. Support The IT Guy Show

More from The IT Guy Show

Aug 18, 2026

I've got a Dell PowerEdge R720 in colocation that sounds like a jet engine, it's six to eight years old, and I refuse to pay Dell a thousand dollars just to unlock its IPMI port. So instead of guessing my way into a replacement, I brought in someone who builds this hardware for a living.

Aug 4, 2026

Most password managers ask you to trust them blindly. Bitwarden opens the hood and shows you the code instead. I sat down with Kasey Babcock, a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Bitwarden, to get into why that openness matters when a tool is holding every credential you own.

Jul 21, 2026

Most of us treat our homelabs like a junk drawer. Something breaks, we shrug, we fix it whenever we get around to it. Mathias Palmersheim does not operate that way. He's a Solutions Engineer at VictoriaMetrics, where he spends his days helping companies monitor infrastructure at serious scale, and he's brought that same discipline home. He runs his personal homelab against an actual SLA, the kind of uptime commitment most of us only deal with at work.

Jul 8, 2026

At SouthEast Linux Fest, I did something I've never attempted before: a live, hands-on intro to tabletop role playing games for a packed room of Linux nerds. No idea how many people were showing up. No idea how many had ever touched a d6. Somewhere between 10 and 100, they said. Cool. Cool cool cool.

May 28, 2026

Home labs have evolved from hobbyist experiments to essential infrastructure for tech professionals, but knowing when to build one…and how…isn't always clear. Josh from Keep It Techie joins Eric to discuss the practical realities of home lab ownership: the cost-benefit calculations, the apartment constraints, and the decisions that actually matter when you're running real workloads. From colocation trade-offs to gigabit fiber potential, we break down Eric's current setup and explore whether it's time to bring the lab home.

See all episodes →