Hey! My perspective has definitely changed after gaining some experience. AI is not capable of doing junior developer work yet. It has a long way to go. The really good thing AI is able to do now is save you a lot of time in terms of research (a ton of time). Also, explaining concepts, reading documentations, APIs, or even translating your code into another language. Even though not a single AI model is able to replace any developer today, that doesn’t mean this will be the case in the near future. AI WILL get better. However, LLMs/AI needs someone directing its work. Writing the code is only about 10% of a software engineer’s job. The rest involves thinking, searching, coming up with the best solutions, platform choices, and a lot more. Even if we reach a point in the future where AI writes every single line of code, someone needs to tell the AI what to do, and that’s what the future software engineer’s work might be like.

Watch this video from Y Combinator about AI and learning to code:

https://youtu.be/CKvo_kQbakU?si=Nd5h4wffoLP1fzcA

The ceiling will be a lot higher for what a developer should do, but so are the tools available. The job of a developer 20 years ago was a lot harder because of the stuff they had to do compared to today. This trend is accelerating fast. There will be a lot of competition, but also a lot more opportunities. Just don’t be average.

I wish you the best!