Opinion: AI Is Reshaping The Coding Industry And Transforming Developers’ Careers

Learning to code has always been in the back of my mind. For years, I’ve cultivated this belief that becoming a programmer or an app developer is the best path to build a stable career and guarantee a high-paying job position in our fast-evolving world.

But now, generative artificial intelligence is here, revolutionizing everyone’s lives and professional careers, and I can’t help but wonder: Is learning to code still worth it?

While recent massive layoffs from big tech companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Google, are the result of multiple factors—including the pandemic—it’s been reported that the need for developers has decreased, and tech graduates are facing a tough job market.

As a journalist with only a very basic knowledge of HTML and CSS and no experience in the coding domain, I decided to research and ask developers working with AI about what they think is truly happening in the coding ecosystem with the arrival of AI.

The Fears And Concerns

The massive layoffs from big tech companies have been one of the biggest concerns affecting the stability of web development jobs.

In 2023, over 260,000 employees were laid off from tech companies—including giants like Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft. During 2024 the job cuts processes continued, fortunately at a slower pace but reaching nearly 150,000 job cuts so far.

While these downsizing processes include multiple departments in tech companies that are not related to software development or code writing, software engineers actually made the largest portion of job cuts in 2023 according to a report shared by Vox.

And yes, there were reasons like—luckily for all of us—the end of the pandemic and the lack of need for virtual development at the fast pace we experienced during the COVID-19 crisis, and other external factors like the uncertainty of the economy. However, a few experts have included the rise of AI as part of the equation.

AI As An Accelerator, Not A Replacement

AI can now take care of a large portion of the company’s code. On October 29th, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said during its optimistic earnings call for the company’s performance during the third quarter of 2024 that they have adopted AI internally and it has boosted their efficiency.

“Today, more than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI, then reviewed and accepted by engineers. This helps our engineers do more and move faster,” said Pichai.

And what do web developers think about this?

Robert Hangu, a generative AI consultant with an MSc in Computer Science and founder of Next Operations, believes that AI is not replacing software engineers but rather accelerating their jobs.

“I use Copilot as a coding assistant but you have to know when it’s right and when it’s wrong,” said Hangu to WizCase during a call, emphasizing that knowledge in coding is essential to use AI as leverage.

When I asked about companies laying off developers after the rise of AI and considering this as a factor he disagreed. “I would argue it has a lot to do with capital allocation and decision,” said Hangu. “If you have the ability to create 10 times more code as a company, what would you do? Would you kick out 90% of your workforce and stay the same, or would you keep it and produce 10x?”

AI Is Reshaping Developers’ Jobs

Chatbots like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT can now take care of code writing, debug errors, suggest code and autocomplete, and translate concepts.

Ricardo Sánchez, a computer engineer working as a DevOPS engineer and leading a team of 20 developers, has experienced the impact of AI firsthand.

“Software development is becoming increasingly faster because developers can focus on creating code instead of spending hours and hours researching how to solve a problem,” said Sanchez to Wizcase in a call. “Now you can go to an AI and ask it about a problem with code and how you can update or improve it, and that saves and simplifies your work significantly. You no longer spend 10 hours researching, browsing, or reading documentation; instead, you focus on solving the problem. AI simplifies and helps you a lot in the process.”

The Future Of Developers’ Careers

Most developers I talked to about the impact of AI in the industry agree on the same premise: you must be great at coding to verify and confirm that AI is doing a good job. They also agreed on the accuracy of AI and estimated it to be near 95% correct most of the time when writing code, answering queries, and performing multiple tasks.

This is also one of the reasons why many experts say that the demand for junior developers is decreasing and senior positions are more relevant. Writing code has become less relevant than editing code, and in editing—just like it happens in journalism—knowledge is crucial.

Sánchez believes that companies must update their systems and platforms to stay ahead of AI’s impact and their competitors. And that developers, on the other hand, must observe what is happening inside the companies and experiment with the new AI tools to serve as bridges connecting current technologies to more advanced technologies, always prioritizing safety and an ethical approach.

Despite the layoffs in the tech industry, the uncertainty in the market, and the big impact AI is having on software development, must workers in the field remain optimistic. I noticed this in conversations with developers and see it also on Reddit and social media.

“Computer science is a field that is constantly changing and evolving, so as a computer science professional, you need to understand this and, beyond being afraid of it, embrace it—embrace the change,” said Sánchez.