Workers worried about the threat of AI taking their jobs are pivoting to roles that can’t be done by a bot.
Former Sydney law firm managing partner Kevin Yau is one of them, giving up a lucrative job as a lawyer to train as a plumber.
The 44-year-old is among a growing trend of people ditching white-collar roles and literally getting their hands dirty.
Mr Yau said he had always preferred working with his hands but pursued law after being encouraged by his parents towards medicine or the legal profession.
He eventually became a managing partner but said long hours behind a desk and dealing with clients during difficult periods of their lives left him burnt out.
His turning point came during the Covid-19 lockdowns when he could not work from his Bankstown practice in Sydney’s southwest and began doing handyman jobs around his home.
“I remember seeing tradie vehicles driving around,” Mr Yau told NewsWire.
“They weren’t impacted by the lockdowns. That’s when I knew I had to make a change.
“I needed something hands-on that would be futureproof against a lockdown or AI.”
Mr Yau contacted Master Plumbers and was connected with The Clean Plumber, where he is now lead plumber.
“You can’t send a robot to go unblock a drain,” he said.
Mr Yau said the switch was physically difficult at first but he now had no regrets about abandoning law.
He is not alone with career platform WORK180 finding AI had influenced a career decision in almost two in three (58 per cent) young Aussies aged between 16 and 25 in the past 12 months.
Half of those surveyed said they were considering switching fields, while 62 per cent of young jobseekers said they were very or extremely concerned about AI’s impact on employment.
Master Plumbers Association of NSW chief executive Nathaniel Smith said moving from an office job into plumbing might sound unusual but reflected a broader shift being driven by AI and technology.
“We’re seeing people who have spent years behind a desk deciding they want a practical, skilled career,” he said.
Meanwhile, demand for skilled trades remains strong.
Jobs and Skills Australia said plumbers and related trades were in shortage in NSW and nationally, with employment up by 4500 workers in the year to February, a 4.3 per cent rise that outpaced overall employment growth.
SEEK data shows national demand for plumbers has risen 3 per cent since July 2025 and 2 per cent over the latest quarter, while job advertisements across all industries fell 6 per cent annually.
TAFE NSW acting executive director of learning and teaching Jen Perkins said plumbing and other construction trades continued to attract school leavers and career changers.
“Our classrooms bring together students from all walks of life, including mature-age apprentices and people who have previously worked in office-based or professional roles,” Ms Perkins said.
National vocational education figures also show the age profile of apprentices is changing, with 39,895 Australians aged 25 and older starting apprenticeships in 2025 compared with 5339 in 1995.
The same calculation is confronting students before they have even entered the workforce.
Campbelltown student Chad Locke, 18, is considering carpentry after year 12 but has also applied to study business and secondary teaching at university.
“I feel like that’s what I’m most connected to in terms of working with my hands,” Mr Locke said.
“Doing a trade could give me a good opportunity to do that because I’d actually have the skills to eventually do my own thing.”
But he said university still carried a strong social expectation.
“Your whole schooling builds up to university, so it’s like there’s this pressure of ‘If I go this other way, will I fail?’” he said.
AI had made the choice even harder.
“It is definitely going to be an influence, and it could make everything better or it could offer fewer opportunities for people,” Mr Locke said.
For Mr Yau, the appeal of a trade is much simpler.
“If you can stick your hand up and say, ‘I know how to fix things’, you’re always going to have a job,” he said.