It is fascinating that SpaceX rockets are landed back on Earth so they can be reused. Equally fascinating is the fact that the code to bring the rockets back was written by a single software engineer – others were only a little involved. The reason is simple: “Get more people involved and it gets confusing,” said Hans Koenigsmann, the fourth employee at SpaceX.

With generative AI in the picture, the role of a software engineer is changing drastically and the size of a software engineering team is fast decreasing. Now, the help of other engineers is not needed at all, as you have an AI Copilot that can do the job for you, or maybe Devin is all you need.

“If a team requires more than 10 members to function, the team is not right,” said Jyoti Bansal, recalling the words of late Rajeev Motwani, one of the mentors of the Google founders, that earlier, 10 members seemed a lot, now even one software engineer with AI can get a lot more done. 

The AI Job Replacement Conundrum

The most-celebrated phrase across 2023 has been, “AI won’t take your job, it’s somebody using AI that will take your job.” It has been increasingly coming true. But the point here is that instead of worrying about the loss of jobs, one should upskill themselves and learn how to use the AI tools. 

To make this clearer, Allie K Miller posted on LinkedIn a list of jobs that are paying big amounts of money to people working with AI. She said that AI will not replace jobs but actually enable employees. One of the startups she invested in told her: “We’d rather hire one software engineer who knows how to use AI than five who don’t, even if it’s the same cost.”

Hiring the right talent is most important, explained Hemant Jani. “You don’t need a team of 10 guys to develop an AI startup. A couple of good engineers working fulltime will get the work done,” he added, warning of more job cuts. The average developer now needs to be an AI enabler as well or else he is going to lose the game.

For some software developers and engineers, this might paint a negative picture. But the truth is that people who use AI have been able to perform multiple tasks at the same time, which is what the motivation behind the introduction of ChatGPT was for OpenAI chief Sam Altman. “The best practitioners of the craft will use multiple tools and they’ll do some work in natural language,” said Altman, in the latest Lex Fridman podcast.

“The way I think about it is not what percent of jobs AI will do, but what percent of tasks will AI do,” Altman explained, when asked about the capabilities of GPT-4 and how people fear monger AI replacing jobs. He gave examples of how AI would be able to assist in five-minute tasks to five-days tasks. “Because AI is a tool,” he adds, that people should be able to operate at a higher level of abstraction and become way more efficient at the job they do. 

Similar thoughts have been expressed across social media platforms such as Hacker News that AI is going to enhance a developer’s workflow and significantly increase the output and productivity.

There would be more jobs with new roles

The release of every single AI tool brings along the hype of it replacing certain jobs or making them obsolete. But that rarely happens. However, the nature and requirements of being a software developer may undergo change with the advent of natural language programming.

The traditional approach to software engineering often revolved around large teams collaborating to tackle complex projects. However, with the advent of natural language programming and AI-driven solutions, the paradigm is evolving towards leaner, more specialised teams. 

Engineers can now express complex ideas and commands more intuitively, streamlining the development process. Tasks that previously required intricate lines of code by a team of five developers can now be accomplished through simple, natural language instructions by a single programmer. While this sounds like cutting jobs, it is actually reducing the barrier to entry for aspiring developers.

“I believe AI will generate more job opportunities than we currently perceive. Humanity has a way to adapt with technological advancements, resulting in the creation of numerous new roles,” said Maheep Gupta, an AI enthusiast. Thus, humans will start solving bigger and more complex problems.

There are predictions that claim there will be 10 million more software engineering jobs in five years, which seem radical since the AI fear-mongering has been pushing us to believe otherwise. The truth is that as the number of AI solutions increase, so do the number of companies looking to hire software developers. 

Sure, there can be less coding jobs in a single company, but the number of companies requiring software developers is going to increase a lot more, and most of them in the future would be required to work with AI. Yes, if you are someone who *just* write code, you’ll need to start thinking differently.

The automation of code was never about replacing software engineers, but automating the absolute code monkey work that is what 90% of enterprise development consists of. The future software engineering roles would include managing a team of AI engineers, which would probably increase productivity, and also the number of jobs for those who know AI.