Every few years, the tech world picks a new scapegoat. This time, it’s AI. “AI will replace developers,” they scream. “Coding will be obsolete in five years!” We’ve seen this movie before, and spoiler: it never ends how the doom prophets say it will.
But this time, the panic isn’t just coming from clueless outsiders. It’s coming from developers themselves — or at least, people who play one on LinkedIn.
Let’s break this down.
Déjà Vu: This Isn’t the First Time Devs Were “Doomed”
Remember when the following were supposed to end programming as we knew it?
Visual Basic (early 2000s): “You won’t need programmers anymore.” Still waiting.
Dreamweaver & Wix (2010): “Just drag and drop, no dev needed!” Every startup still needs engineers.
jQuery & Bootstrap (2012): “Frontend is just plug-and-play now.” React, Angular, and Vue would like a word.
Stack Overflow (2015): “People just copy and paste now.” So what? You still need to know what you’re doing.
No-code/low-code (2020): “Anyone can build apps now.” Yes — MVPs. Not production systems at scale.
Now it’s AI’s turn to “replace us.” The cycle repeats — because it’s never been about facts. It’s about fear, engagement farming, and a whole lot of performative nonsense.
What drives these takes isn’t insight — it’s attention. Fear generates clicks. Hot takes get shares. And the louder and more panicked the post, the more it spreads. That’s not truth — that’s marketing.
These Fear Posts Are a Joke
The worst part? Most of these alarmist posts aren’t even technical. They don’t analyze workflows, tooling, or limitations. They just scream:
“AI is taking our jobs. If you’re a developer, you’re screwed.”
That’s not insight. That’s clickbait for likes and retweets.
AI is changing the landscape — sure. But it’s not coming to take your IDE away. It’s not deploying to production for you. It’s not writing secure, scalable systems. It’s not debugging why the server is crashing at 3 a.m. It’s not sitting in meetings deciphering what a PM actually meant by “make it pop.”
AI Is a Power Tool, Not a Replacement
The truth? AI doesn’t kill jobs. It kills excuses.
If you’re a real developer, AI helps you build faster, think more clearly, and skip repetitive crap. It’s not “replacing you” — it’s removing friction.
But if your whole job is regurgitating tutorials, endlessly copying Stack Overflow answers, and throwing in a “synergistic ML pipeline” to sound smart — then yeah, maybe you’re in trouble. But let’s be honest: you were already replaceable.
Will some low-skill roles shift or disappear over time? Probably. Just like they always have. But that’s evolution — not extinction.
Developers Aren’t Going Anywhere
Real devs still do what AI can’t:
- Architecting scalable systems
- Weighing trade-offs between performance and readability
- Writing code that actually works in context
- Making judgment calls when the data is fuzzy
AI doesn’t reason. It predicts. It doesn’t think — it auto-completes. It’s a tool, not a replacement.
Conclusion: Keep Building. Ignore the Noise.
The idea that developers are “screwed” is pure fiction. We’ve been through this cycle a dozen times. We’re not going anywhere.
So the next time someone posts, “AI is taking your job,” just remember: they’re not speaking from experience. They’re speaking for attention.
Real devs don’t panic.
They adapt. They learn. They build.
And they’re still here.
💬 What do you think?
If you're a dev using AI daily — has it actually replaced you… or just made you faster?
Drop your take in the comments.
Top comments (20)
This is exactly what I feel like I shout at least 3 times a day, even if it's just to myself because nobody else was listening 😆 I have a friend who is convinced that I am helping the AI take my job away from me. It doesn't matter what I say or how I try to debate his reality — that's his truth.
MY truth? As an actual developer, is that even if AI were to advance to the point of being logically capable (which we are still far away from — assuming that its even possible), there's ALWAYS going to be a human element required for great code. Innovation, design, advancement, and deep problem solving (just to name a few) cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence at a fundamental level. So as much as I enjoy having AI around to do all the little things I don't necessarily have to anymore, I'm exactly 0% threatened by the thought of it taking over and eliminating my usefulness to the either my employer or the industry as a whole.
The ones who are sitting back waiting for "the phase" to pass? Will eventually realize it's passing just as quickly as the "internet phase" or cell phones did. By that point, it may be too late to recover...
Exactly. AI is just a tool — real devs use it to build better and faster. The ones who panic are usually the ones who never did the real work anyway.
Love this take. So much truth.
Daily AI (GitHub Copilot) makes me faster with automatic, inline code completion suggestions and actually teaches me things with its excellent chat-based explanations, and I've been coding for 30+ years.
Great article. Thanks for sharing it!
Totally agree that AI won't replace developers - it's all about how we use it. The best developers I know are already leveraging AI to handle repetitive tasks so they can focus on the really interesting problems. That said, current AI tools still make plenty of mistakes, so we've got to stay sharp and keep learning. The future belongs to those who can work with AI, not fear it!
good
I don't like the negative tone in those statements. Sure there are people that pretend to be developers, but I think they already face scrutiny from other developers. AI will not expose them, other developers will.
While I disagree that "AI is taking your job", I think it's an oversimplification.
As you said, AI is a power tool. It helps me build faster. If Devs are building faster - can we get away with less Devs? If we need less Devs, does that mean less jobs? Major corporations are hedging on this.
AI is and will continue to disrupt the landscape. Maybe it'll result in less work. Maybe it'll result in empowered teams.
Yes - Devs should evolve. But the fear of change and uncertainty won't go away.
Great answer! Devs should evolve continuously. If not, we can be Developers that is replaced with AI.
I love this article. Removing friction should increase productivity, so it will be interesting to see if the landscape shifts to favour those who can best embrace the new tools available.
It's the printing press and search engines all over again 🙃
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