there's a perception that seasoned developers are becoming redundant
It has been a problem since the free culture on internet. How many times did you hear do this for me so you can get exposure. People want your expertise on the cheap. And before AI I think developers were seeing their worth and demanding a fair compensation.
the industry desperately needs big-picture thinkers, the kind of folks who can connect the dots between our nostalgic past and our sci-fi future
I think the industry still needs all the levels of developers that there are now. I don't believe the industry can "robotize". We need people for the small, big, and large decisions. Most people can't make the large decisions if they didn't first learn to make small and big ones.
It is not possible run all software; websites, mobile and desktop apps, with a small group of people. That is not maintainable.
But AI companies try to convince the business leaders it is possible, and they are buying it because AI is cheaper than people.
The bug is saving money by pushing people out, until it goes wrong. And then trying to rehire them.
But at the same time AI companies throw insane money at AI researchers to become the ubiquitous solution.
My other side hustle is being a pro photographer. The big joke there is always being offered to be paid with "Exposure" lol. Covid killed that hustle.
Software development is a layered craft and each layer depends on the one beneath it. Junior engineers learn how to shape a feature before they can architect a system, and senior engineers only earn their judgment by working through those smaller challenges. Replacing that progression with an automated shortcut ignores how real expertise is built. Even the most advanced model can generate code snippets, but it cannot shoulder the daily responsibility of making trade-offs, anticipating edge cases, or mentoring newcomers. Without a healthy mix of entry, mid, and senior-level developers, a codebase quickly loses its institutional memory and its capacity to grow. Senior level developers need entry level developers around.
The dream of running every website, mobile app, and desktop platform with a skeleton crew (Thanks Elon!) sounds efficient on a slide deck, yet it collapses under real-world maintenance. Software never stops changing: browsers update, APIs deprecate, customers request oddball features at the worst possible time. When companies trim headcount to chase short-term savings, those changes pile up until the remaining team burns out or bugs start costing real money. At that point leadership scrambles to rehire the very people they dismissed, only now the applicant pool is smaller and the timelines are tighter.
Meanwhile AI vendors are funneling venture capital into salaries that rival pro-athlete contracts(I'm available), all to position their tools as the single answer to every engineering problem. It is a clever pitch because it aligns with budget anxiety, yet it glosses over the fact that code quality is not the only ingredient in working software. Design reviews, security audits(john smith is gonna love it when he logs in and has all of jane doe's info on his health app), on-call rotations, and plain old human intuition still matter. AI can and should accelerate individual tasks, but it is not a substitute for the judgment and collaboration that keep systems reliable over years. Keeping a diverse ladder of developers in the loop is not a luxury; it is the only proven way to build and sustain the digital products we rely on.
Deep Breaths. And an Advil.
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It has been a problem since the free culture on internet. How many times did you hear do this for me so you can get exposure. People want your expertise on the cheap. And before AI I think developers were seeing their worth and demanding a fair compensation.
I think the industry still needs all the levels of developers that there are now. I don't believe the industry can "robotize". We need people for the small, big, and large decisions. Most people can't make the large decisions if they didn't first learn to make small and big ones.
It is not possible run all software; websites, mobile and desktop apps, with a small group of people. That is not maintainable.
But AI companies try to convince the business leaders it is possible, and they are buying it because AI is cheaper than people.
The bug is saving money by pushing people out, until it goes wrong. And then trying to rehire them.
But at the same time AI companies throw insane money at AI researchers to become the ubiquitous solution.
My other side hustle is being a pro photographer. The big joke there is always being offered to be paid with "Exposure" lol. Covid killed that hustle.
Software development is a layered craft and each layer depends on the one beneath it. Junior engineers learn how to shape a feature before they can architect a system, and senior engineers only earn their judgment by working through those smaller challenges. Replacing that progression with an automated shortcut ignores how real expertise is built. Even the most advanced model can generate code snippets, but it cannot shoulder the daily responsibility of making trade-offs, anticipating edge cases, or mentoring newcomers. Without a healthy mix of entry, mid, and senior-level developers, a codebase quickly loses its institutional memory and its capacity to grow. Senior level developers need entry level developers around.
The dream of running every website, mobile app, and desktop platform with a skeleton crew (Thanks Elon!) sounds efficient on a slide deck, yet it collapses under real-world maintenance. Software never stops changing: browsers update, APIs deprecate, customers request oddball features at the worst possible time. When companies trim headcount to chase short-term savings, those changes pile up until the remaining team burns out or bugs start costing real money. At that point leadership scrambles to rehire the very people they dismissed, only now the applicant pool is smaller and the timelines are tighter.
Meanwhile AI vendors are funneling venture capital into salaries that rival pro-athlete contracts(I'm available), all to position their tools as the single answer to every engineering problem. It is a clever pitch because it aligns with budget anxiety, yet it glosses over the fact that code quality is not the only ingredient in working software. Design reviews, security audits(john smith is gonna love it when he logs in and has all of jane doe's info on his health app), on-call rotations, and plain old human intuition still matter. AI can and should accelerate individual tasks, but it is not a substitute for the judgment and collaboration that keep systems reliable over years. Keeping a diverse ladder of developers in the loop is not a luxury; it is the only proven way to build and sustain the digital products we rely on.
Deep Breaths. And an Advil.