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With AI looming, is there still space for new coders? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by d0ct0r0nline@lemmy.world to c/programming@programming.dev

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For some background, I originally wanted to break into programming back when I was in college but drifted more into desktop tech support and now systems administration. SysAdmin work is draining me, though, and I want to pick back up programming and see if I can make a career out of it, but industry seems like it could be moving in a direction to rely on AI for coding. Everything I've heard has said AI is not there yet, but if it's looking like it hits a point where it reaches an ability to fully automate coding, should I even bother? Am I going to be obsolete after a year? Five years?

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[–] jadero@programming.dev 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But typically when a field becomes more affordable, it goes up in demand, not down, because the target audience that can afford the service grows exponentially.

I've always been very up front with the fact that I could not have made a career out of programming without tools like Delphi and Visual Basic. I'm simply not productive enough to have to also transcribe my mental images into text to get useful and productive UIs.

All of my employers and the vast majority of my clients were small businesses with fewer than 150 employees and most had fewer than a dozen employees. Not a one of them could afford a programmer who had to type everything out.

If that's what happens with AI tooling, then I'm all for it. There are still far too many small businesses, village administrators, and the like being left using general purpose office "productivity" software instead of something tailored to their actual needs.

[–] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 5 points 9 months ago

There are still far too many small businesses, village administrators, and the like being left using general purpose office "productivity" software instead of something tailored to their actual needs.

Exactly. The "AI will do it all" crowd don't have this perspective. There's so much more work to be done, and I hope AI is hugely impactful to help. But I've been at this long enough to know that's still a long road.