But there are not many of you. Sure a few architects will be needed maybe. That still means ‘all’ with a little error margin.
Also, code in a new AI reality, will probably be mostly throw away code; you don’t need to repair a function; you just give the ai the input and output where it fails + the code of the function and it’ll give you a new one which might or might not be completely different from the previous one.
If your only value add is pumping out code that a generative model can generate with a few tweaks, please reconsider. This career is maybe not going to be extremely rewarding for you and your salary will go to 0 in the long run (it probably will for all of us at some point but the question is how much further out in the future).
If this is just fancy auto complete to you then neat.
> you just give the ai the input and output where it fails + the code of the function and it’ll give you a new one which might or might not be completely different from the previous one.
I spent three days chasing down a bug in our codebase with a repro. I’ll run the problem through ChatGPT but I feel like even if I give it the two functions involved and surrounding boilerplate pointing at those two functions, with tests the answer will be gibberish. My basic understanding is that chatgpt’s and copilot’s capability here is doing this for the kinds of things that are toy examples only where the scenario is both carefully constructed and the problem quite obvious. Is that not the case? Don’t get me wrong. I’m 100% on board that this is a fascinating direction and we will get there and it’s going to be great. I’m just saying the base level of competence hasn’t been met yet and so I’d use it as a teaching tool but I’d ban it in a professional environment for most code (not all) until it’s way more mature. It’s just going to do more damage than it’s worth. I look forward to a future where I can give AI higher level instructions of what to change in the codebase and I just need to peripherally review what it did. That and product leadership and upper management is a secure job path. Everything else. Well… good luck? And I am clear. I will go before product leadership and executives. But that means we have AI that’s experienced at building software with minimal input. You can just start your own business and that’s so fantastic. It lowers the barriers to software development so that more people can compete in business. That will be an interesting society to observe.
Also, code in a new AI reality, will probably be mostly throw away code; you don’t need to repair a function; you just give the ai the input and output where it fails + the code of the function and it’ll give you a new one which might or might not be completely different from the previous one.