Why are like 90% of programmers needed anymore?
Posted by AdSubstantial3900@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 22 comments
Code that needed 100 people, now needs far fewer than 100 people thanks to AI no?
paperic@reddit
s.o.u.r.c.e.?
33RhyvehR@reddit
bro everyones shown differrnt sht. All I see is "50k programmers laid off at X company" and etc.
paperic@reddit
due to AI replacing them in their job or due to AI replacing every other possible startup investment opportunity?
33RhyvehR@reddit
Or because most programmers went to school, memorized things AI can regurgitate, and they are therefore getting trimmed.
Also, once codes written its written. AI will help debug faster so less maintenance.
And as AI evolves it will continue to encroach further. If you dont want to understand basic logic thats your choice
paperic@reddit
current AI creates more bugs than it solves. If you want to jump to conclusions about what may or may not happen in 5 years, that is your choice.
33RhyvehR@reddit
-> If you want to jump to conclusions.
-> AI creates more bugs then it solves
The same way a hammer bends more nails then it drives in.
iOSCaleb@reddit
Conversely, the fact that 90% of programmers haven’t been laid off should tell you something about how much AI can really do on its own.
Also, there’s probably elasticity in demand for software. A given employer is probably limited in how much they can spend on software development, but given tools that make programmers more productive they may choose to spend the same and get more work done rather than spend less to get the same work done.
captainAwesomePants@reddit
No.
bird_feeder_bird@reddit
This is like asking why we need construction workers when we already have bricks.
saltf1sk@reddit
Why are there carpenters anymore when there are so many electric screwdrivers?
33RhyvehR@reddit
There is 90% less carpenters as of the invention of power tools.
33RhyvehR@reddit
Just ignore everyone.
A) AI can regurgitate patterns its seen and help synthesize new ones out of existing patterns. It does not magically create new knowledge or code
It's like copy paste on steroids
The issue? People who spend 4 years doing the trad model of education learn 4 years of copy pasteable patterns. Geologist? Nah you take a photo of a rock and ask AI. Botanist? Nah I can identify plants with AI.
Programmer learning existing patterns? Now you gotta make new ones. Hence the invalid argument "waa look at ai companies having programmers". Like are they really? The head of claude code posted his one update to claude itself was entirely written by claude. Its about architecture nowadays.
Its just important to understand what AI is and is not.
Hence I focus on learning architecture and how to flow data better.
diversity_of_thought@reddit
You are correct we don't need as many programmers. We still need experts and will need to train future developers to become experts. With that said developers still play a critical role with complex problems and reviewing what the agents produce. Letting your favorite agent pump out a bunch of code has come back to bite a lot of developers in the butt.
JoshisJoshingyou@reddit
Companies are willing to generate tons of tech debt in the hopes AI will save them in the future. CTOs expect everyone to be a 10x engineer with AI as an assistant. Problem is AI still has a long ways to go some days it helps most days it slows me down.
ConfidentCollege5653@reddit
No
javascriptBad123@reddit
People who who can't even write properly shouldn't really join this conversation tbh
nightyz0r@reddit
Because prompters can't code, can't discern between right or wrong, can't fix, established developers can.
0x14f@reddit
> Why are like 90% of programmers needed anymore?
I don't know what you have heard, but LLMs are not replacing programmers. The juniors that were meant to be hired this year, that the existing mid levels and seniors can do without, yes, those are still waiting somebody to call them back, but programmers are not going anywhere.
Lurn2Program@reddit
Because AI hasn't replaced programmers.
two_three_five_eigth@reddit
I still am wondering how people are getting AI to produce usable code. Think of it this way, you can almost immediately tell when text has been generated by AI. Same for pictures. Code generated by AI is the same - it doesn't work without a lot of human intervention.
illuminarias@reddit
cool, so why do openai, anthropic and gang all still have software developers? wouldn't they be the first to drop all developers then?
0x14f@reddit
Not only that, but they are actually hiring...