The end of Mediocre Software Developer is near?

As we all know, Software development is a challenging and continuously evolving field. Not just today, It has been this way always. But in recent times, it has been accelerated at such a pace that many developers find it difficult to keep up.

So the question we are asking is: Will the fast-paced and rapidly evolving nature kill the jobs of mediocre programmers?

Again as per my previous articles, I’ll go by answering What, Why, When and How.

What?

What do I mean by Mediocre developers and the end of them?

Let’s first go with a Mediocre developer. I believe there are several traits of a Mediocre developer. Like:

1. Little or no interest in programming

2. Procrastinate to cope with the latest trends

3. Does not deep dive into the solutions he/she is working on

Now, What do I mean by end of mediocre developers? I do not mean that they would disappear from the industry. but realistically, they would keep doing mediocre jobs and maintain the legacy systems.

Why?

First, we need to understand why this question arose?

We’ve all been saying and seeing the fact that AI and robotics would eventually take over many jobs. But we all thought that Software Development is a field that is the brain behind AI, so developers would never be obsolete. However, in recent years, the increasing use of no-code and CMS based websites pushes us to think otherwise.

We think that no-code and CMS based websites can’t create complex and logical web apps. and that’s correct too. But then came GPT-3 and people created some amazing apps over it. And in October 2021, GitHub launched Copilot which allows a user (even non-technical users) to code by just providing comments or requirements in plain English language.

I know copilot is more like a fun playground right now, but it’s impressive to see how it can even provide solutions to moderate to some highly complex leetcode problems.

We still think it’s in an early stage, and it can never be as perfect and understanding as a human being, but it’s a start.

And then came GitHub Copilot Labs. and it blew my mind.

It explains code, answers some specific questions, and even translates the code from one programming language to another.

It can also let users understand the existing code so a developer would not always be required even if there need some changes in existing code.

Both extensions combined make us think, are the tech giants trying to get rid of expensive and slow human intelligence with cheap and fast artificial intelligence?

Apart from that, the rise of Web3.0 and decentralized applications would also push the mediocre developers out of mainstream development. It’s still too early to say whether web3.0 will become a driving force of this decade or not, but it would certainly make some impact.

When?

So when is this going to happen? When will the Mediocre developers become obsolete?

There’s no definite timeline one can think of. But with advancements in AI, It seems pretty closer than we think. My best guess would be that within the next 5 years, all the new developments would gradually shift to methods like no-code and may also use a non-technical person with GitHub co-pilot as a pair programmer.

It doesn't mean developers will be out of jobs. The projects which require heavy business logic or heavy configurations or personalisation or heavy database structure that a human brain can do better and faster than an AI which provide false results in that case, would always require a developer.

How?

How a developer can save him/herself? Well, There’s only one way. He/she will have to stop procrastinating and start learning new technologies.

It would be either AI or Web3.0 that would cause the end of Mediocre developers.
So It should be the primary goal to get on either of the trains to save him/herself from getting thrown out of the station before the trains left.

Happy Learning!!!