Is software developer still a viable long-term career in the age of AI? /u/Pudogue CSCQ protests reddit

Yes, I know. Another post about “Is AI coming for my job?!”. But I don’t have a software dev job (yet), so I’m more looking into the question of career direction/advice given the arrival of AI. Not whether AI is coming for my job or not, but how should I steer my path given the current direction the industry is heading in.

I’m currently in year two of a three-year programming degree, learning C#, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I’ve been using AI to help me learn when I don’t understand a concept or to check my code and get feedback. I’m not letting it do the work for me, as it would beat the purpose of learning. All in all, It’s been very helpful when needed.

Initially, I wasn’t too worried about the fearmongering around AI coming for software development jobs. I figured AI wasn’t advanced enough to handle complex coding tasks, and clients would still need developers to figure out requirements and build custom solutions. AI is not THAT good at coding more complex solutions, and you also have to know really really well what you want to make for them to come up with something somewhat useful. So, for now, clients will still need software developers to not only make what they need, but help them figure out what they actually want. In that sense, I feel software dev still has a long life ahead.

However, some recent developments have made me question the long-term viability and opportunities in software development:

1. I’m seeing more and more examples of non-programmers using AI to build fully functional apps and websites without writing any code themselves. The resulting products are apparently decent. This kind of seems to put counter argument of clients not knowing what they want and therefore still needing us.
2. This is the bigger point for me, major tech companies like Salesforce and Meta are announcing they will need fewer junior and mid-level developers as their AI tools become capable of performing tasks at that level. Some are even talking of hire freezes. Their argument is more than just saying current developers more productive with AI, and seems to be like AI will literally replace some of those roles.

All of this has made me feel insecure about my career choice. Sometimes I wonder if I’m investing years of effort to learn a profession that may largely wither out in the coming years. Even though I’m not based in the US, tech trends there tend to eventually spread to other countries too.

I’m hoping to get some solid counter-arguments for why becoming a software developer is still a relevant and viable long-term career path in the age of AI. Are my concerns overblown? If so, why? I’d appreciate any insights to help me feel more confident in staying the course with my degree, or adjust it smartly to somewhat “future-proof” it (if that’s possible at all to begin with) and this field. Thank you!

TL;DR: As a programming student, I’m concerned that AI advancements may make software development less viable as a long-term career. I’m seeing more examples of big tech company CEO’s making statements more in the line of AI replacing junior/mid-level developers, rather than it being a tool to their employees, and non-programmers using AI to build apps without coding skills. Is software development still a viable career path in the age of AI?

Yes, I know. Another post about “Is AI coming for my job?!”. But I don’t have a software dev job (yet), so I’m more looking into the question of career direction/advice given the arrival of AI. Not whether AI is coming for my job or not, but how should I steer my path given the current direction the industry is heading in.

I’m currently in year two of a three-year programming degree, learning C#, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I’ve been using AI to help me learn when I don’t understand a concept or to check my code and get feedback. I’m not letting it do the work for me, as it would beat the purpose of learning. All in all, It’s been very helpful when needed.

Initially, I wasn’t too worried about the fearmongering around AI coming for software development jobs. I figured AI wasn’t advanced enough to handle complex coding tasks, and clients would still need developers to figure out requirements and build custom solutions. AI is not THAT good at coding more complex solutions, and you also have to know really really well what you want to make for them to come up with something somewhat useful. So, for now, clients will still need software developers to not only make what they need, but help them figure out what they actually want. In that sense, I feel software dev still has a long life ahead.

However, some recent developments have made me question the long-term viability and opportunities in software development:

1. I’m seeing more and more examples of non-programmers using AI to build fully functional apps and websites without writing any code themselves. The resulting products are apparently decent. This kind of seems to put counter argument of clients not knowing what they want and therefore still needing us.
2. This is the bigger point for me, major tech companies like Salesforce and Meta are announcing they will need fewer junior and mid-level developers as their AI tools become capable of performing tasks at that level. Some are even talking of hire freezes. Their argument is more than just saying current developers more productive with AI, and seems to be like AI will literally replace some of those roles.

All of this has made me feel insecure about my career choice. Sometimes I wonder if I’m investing years of effort to learn a profession that may largely wither out in the coming years. Even though I’m not based in the US, tech trends there tend to eventually spread to other countries too.

I’m hoping to get some solid counter-arguments for why becoming a software developer is still a relevant and viable long-term career path in the age of AI. Are my concerns overblown? If so, why? I’d appreciate any insights to help me feel more confident in staying the course with my degree, or adjust it smartly to somewhat “future-proof” it (if that’s possible at all to begin with) and this field. Thank you!

TL;DR: As a programming student, I’m concerned that AI advancements may make software development less viable as a long-term career. I’m seeing more examples of big tech company CEO’s making statements more in the line of AI replacing junior/mid-level developers, rather than it being a tool to their employees, and non-programmers using AI to build apps without coding skills. Is software development still a viable career path in the age of AI?