I am reliably informed that one day soon, programmers will be obsolete. All the hard work you've put in will be for nil, as people with big ideas (Instagram for podiatrists) will be able to dictate their required features into an app and, through The Power Of AI, out comes the finished product. No programmer required. Sorry. Bye.
For the programmers here: what would you be doing if writing code was no longer an option? I think I'd like to work outdoors.
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When I was exploring career options in high school in the late 90s, I regrettably didn't pursue computer science because I listened to these arguments:
20 years later, argument #3 is still being made without noteworthy progress.
After I stumbled into this line of work at a bank, I encountered lots of low code/no code tools. Many of them even advertise "you don't need a programmer to make apps!" That sounds pretty good to execs & managers who love paying for software more than paying developer salaries; they'll often pick up a license for some project or get swayed on a sales call. In every instance I saw, a programmer was eventually assigned to the thing.
Why? My impressions:
As machine learning improves, I think our tools will get smarter. Maybe the process will change. What we consider an app will likely be different (Alexa skills!). I expect the job itself will stick around as long as the need for software customization exists.
In case we do get real AI, not just sophisticated pattern matching? There's always politics.
This is an amazing response.
I'm not too worried about it. Part of being a programmer is the ability to assess a situation and adapt. I'm sure I'll figure something else out.
I'd just go and be a full-time paramedic then. ;)
Changes are imminent and by then I'll have found something even more advanced to do than just write code. But I cannot also help but think that but then I'll have retired already.
As promised, I've done a post which is a reaction to this
dev.to/vorsprung/the-google-crash-...
Than I could finally do photography. 😊
The day devs won't be needed anymore is the day jobs will disappear.
We'll be the last ones.
Then we'll hunt our AI overlords. Fun times ahead!
How about actual Rockstar or Ninja?
If I had known "actual ninja" was a choice, I wouldn't be over here slinging code like a chump. 🐱👤
I'll feed an AI machine the story of my life and let it decide what I am supposed to do.
It's not going to happen for several years.
In fact, the reverse is true, the current interest in clever machines will give us code pushers a great opportunity
Tomorrow's blog post will be about this
At that time we don't need $...
Well, web development is my fourth career so I could always go back to working in a laboratory or cooking (forestry work is too hard now that I'm older) but... I think I'd try to kick my art hobby up a notch. Then give Chuck Tingle a run for his money by writing very silly books for adults.
We already have things like this. They are called low-code platforms. Except replace speech with mouse clicks and a little typing.
It still doesn't create as good of software as a team of programmers with creativity and human empathy. Because software is ultimately used by humans.
I've read those "reliable sources," and consider them to be hilariously over-ambitious. We've yet to replicate anything even resembling actual consciousness and imagination in code. All apparent strides in that area are smoke-and-mirror tricks accomplished with rigid, traditional programming structures (conditionals, neural networks, etc.) AI is incredible, but I can safely say it will never, ever replace human ingenuity. If you believe the breathless reports it will, I've got a bridge to sell you. ;-)
But I digress. If I couldn't be a programmer, I'd still be a writer, songwriter/musician, and stand-up comedian. But, since none of those are likely to replace a full-time job properly, I'd probably become an independent toymaker and board game designer.
I'd generate an app that generates big ideas for apps. Then I'd sit back and relax.