Young Australians are self-taught and side hustling their way in

Career paths used to look like a ladder but for young Australians now, it's more like a web. Skills, networks, income and identity all get built at once, across a few different things, and that's often the plan rather than a fallback.

AI is changing what employers expect from junior hires, and Gen Z isn't sitting around waiting for a training program or a memo from leadership to tell them what to do. They're building their own way in, teaching themselves AI on the side and running side hustles alongside a day job or degree.

The rise of the side hustle

The 2026 Hatch Hotlist survey found 85% of early-career candidates already have a side hustle or want one. Of that group, 39% want one but haven't started, 27% want to keep theirs as a side hustle, and 19% are hoping to turn it into their main job.

Jenna Wall, who works in Community Marketing at Hatch, has had side hustles since she started working, first with her own jewellery brand and now as a florist. S

For Jenna, the biggest payoff isn't the extra income, it has been the skills. "All of my experience for this role at Hatch actually came from the side hustle. Learning how to talk to a community, create content for social media, understand what engages people… that's everything I wouldn't have learned otherwise." It started, she says, because her first corporate role left something missing: "I realised I was missing passion and a creative outlet."

Teaching themselves AI

The same pattern shows up with AI. 89% of young Australians say they have at least some AI capability, and most of them got there without any formal help. 47% learned through YouTube, 46% by using AI outside of work, 40% picked it up informally on the job, and only 28% learned through formal education. Candidates are nearly twice as likely to have learned AI from YouTube as from an employer training program.

What this means for employers

Hatch CEO Adam Jacobs said he was impressed by the resilance and ingenuity of young Australians.

"Gen Z professionals are building career on-ramps for themselves, learning AI from YouTube, running side hustles alongside a day job or university, and choosing the office over remote work because they know they need that in-person connection to advance and learn. Young Australians are being asked to show up more prepared, more polished, more experienced, and they are responding."

Employers still don't fully know how AI will change what they need from junior hires, but the ones who notice the skills candidates are already showing up with, taking into consideration their work outside of formal channels, will be the ones who end up with the best of this generation.

‍