Will AI End Your Coding Career?

Should you turn in your MacBook and try to make it on TikTok?

Hi I'm Dustin Rea and this is D-Rea's Newsletter.
A newsletter for humans working in Tech.

At the time of this writing, I am a software engineer working at an AI company and I also operate a software design and development agency that works with SaaS companies, most of which are trying to leverage AI. My opinions are my own.

Not going to lie, I was a little nervous when I first saw Devin AI, as most of you reading probably were as well. That's why my clickbait title worked.

However, I try to keep my future Terminator nightmares at bay by remembering timeless principles about society that date back thousands of years.

TLDR

AI is another advancement that is already shaping the way we work. Notice I said we work. Because someone will need to solve problems, make decisions, or lead others using AI at the very least. Also, people thrive on human connection so I predict entertainment as a profession will be safe for years to come.

Healthy Comparisons

The Quantum Computer is also talked about in a similar way to AI. It will fundamentally change what is possible. For some people that is scary, because that means they will have to change what they are doing. Change can be scary and bad.

Change can also be exciting and good. If we didn't have change, we wouldn't have Amazon shipping packages to your door steps in two days, most of the time.

Without change we wouldn't have the internet or the iPhone. Both of which were used to completely change industries. In the same light, they created new opportunities.

Cloud Solutions Architect wasn't a job until the concept of the cloud existed. Mobile App Developer wasn't a type of Software Engineer prior to the iPhone¹.

Software Engineer or Clown

My theory is that as long as technology advances, Humans will find more complex problems to solve and better ways to leverage the technology to its limits until a new plateau is reached. The world will always need problem solvers, thinkers, leaders, and entertainers. There are probably a few more but you get the picture.

Keep the MacBook, For Now

I think that even if software engineering is going to fade away as the profession it is today, a new profession for engineering types will pop up. In the meantime, there is a massive amount of work to do maintaining legacy software that keeps the world running. There will be mountains of work to do even with AI helping us to start shifting that software to the new AI paradigm.

Humans don't change overnight, it will take time and effort and we should seize the opportunity, just like every other advancement.

Know a software engineer going through an existential crisis? Send ‘em my way and I’ll try to talk them down from the ledge. Keep Building!

1. Unless you count Palm Pilot or Blackberry, but they are from relatively the same time period and the point remains.