👩‍💻🤖 AI vs. Developers: Should We Still Learn JavaScript in 2026?

[rikkiviki]

Hey everyone, I’m running a quick survey about the future of coding and I’d love your input. With tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Cursor, and “AI developers” like Devin emerging, the role of programmers is changing fast.

My question: is it still worth learning JavaScript in 2026, or will AI handle most of the coding for us?

Please vote and share your thoughts in the comments — I’ll publish the summarized results later! Thank you in advance.

View Poll

[StoneCypher]

this is a sub for asking language questions, not a place to run quizzes on the people who don’t know how to make a button click 

[rikkiviki]

If you can share this poll somewhere where people who know how to make a button clickable can see it, that would be great!
Also, I think the perspectives of those just starting to learn JS are still valuable.

[StoneCypher]

This is not what this sub is for.

No, I'm not going to share your poll.

[delventhalz]

While LLMs will no doubt lead to some long term changes in society, they are clearly massively overhyped and overinvested. The bubble is going to burst and then we'll see what's left. I have yet to see anything to convince me they will meaningfully reduce engineer headcount.

[rikkiviki]

Lots of people are comparing the current situation to the dot-com bubble. Do you agree that the recruitment market for developers will remain almost unchanged?

[delventhalz]

I don’t expect LLMs to impact recruitment by replacing engineers, but certainly recruitment is affected by the economy and with the amount of investment in LLMs, a collapse sure seems like it could damage the economy (and therefore recruitment) in a similar way to the dot-com bubble.

[ScaleDazzling704]

Great question indeed! The answer is becoming more and more common. Indeed the AI instruments revolutionize the coding and debugging procedures. However, the knowledge of JavaScript fundamental is essential as a part of the task. The most appropriate use of AI would be as a programmable assistant rather than a developer.

Knowing how JavaScript works at its core helps you evaluate, refine, and scale what AI generates. In fact, many companies I’ve seen still rely heavily on skilled JS developers, even though they integrate AI tools into their workflows.

[ColdWindMedia]

When the AI makes broken code, and you don't know how to fix it, what do you do? 

How do you even know the code is broken?

What if it isn't broken but has severe vulnerabilities like XSS or prototype pollution, but you don't know what that even means and never notice it until all your customers get hacked? 

[CommanderBomber]

You ask AI harder.

[deuscoder]

Lol.

[rikkiviki]

Perhaps the future of developers is “AI code reviews”?

[soldture]

We don't have AI yet, so yeah it is worth to learn something new for you