DEVOPSdigest

In Part 9 of this series, the experts discussed how AI will impact the workforce and whether it will replace developers. In a continuation of this discussion, in Part 10 of this series, the experts speculate on the impact AI will have on the developers themselves — how their role will evolve and how they will have to adapt.

Upskilling and Adapting

Developers will not be replaced by Generative AI. They will be replaced by other developers who know how to better leverage Generative AI than they do, warns Matej Bukovinski, CTO at Nutrient.

Additionally, developers who can better utilize AI will likely outperform those who only use AI minimally, adds Kai Du, Head of Generative AI at Turing.

The bar for developer skills will likely increase. But it's not necessarily the "job killer" it's sometimes feared to be, Shourabh Rawat, Senior Director, Machine Learning at SymphonyAI concedes. AI creating specific scenarios may replace some roles, but as skill requirements change, there will be new types of developers needed who are adept at using AI, with strong prompt engineering skills. Over time it will enable workforce development at a faster pace. We'll need more people who are expert users of AI tools, and more people skilled at developing and improving AI.

Developers can stay ahead and adapt by honing higher-level skills like prompt engineering in collaboration with AI, Udi Weinberg, Director of Product Management, Research and Development at OpenText, agrees.

Other new skills also include understanding how to train, fine-tune, and interpret AI models, says Ed Frederici, CTO of Appfire. Additionally, developers will need to become proficient in working alongside AI tools, learning how to integrate them into workflows and leverage their capabilities effectively.

Employers seek a wide range of skills and the ability to adapt to the changing tech market, explains Tiago Cardoso, Principal Product Manager, Hyland. Developers who embrace these changes and seek out ways to strengthen their skills in pace with innovations in AI will be the most valuable as the role continues to evolve.

"When asked if I believe in the possibility that AI could entirely replace the role of developers, I prefer to raise an alternate response. Job displacement should not be a concern, unless developers aren't making any effort to up-level their own skill sets or learn how to leverage AI effectively and responsibly," explains Pieter Danhieux, Co-Founder and CEO at Secure Code Warrior. "If I was a developer right now, I would focus on learning about what AI cannot do, or what it is weakened by. This type of invaluable knowledge will be a massive benefit to organizations in the long run."

Evolving Developer Role

"Rather than replacing developers, we believe the most likely scenario is a shift in the nature of development work towards higher-value skills and expertise," says Dotan Nahum, Head of Developer-First Security at Check Point Software Technologies. "For instance, entry-level or junior developer positions may be at risk, particularly those focused on routine coding tasks. However, AI will likely create new job opportunities in model training roles, tool development, and ethics and governance."

As AI becomes more ubiquitous in the SDLC, the experts see the role of the developer evolving in some of the following ways:

Solving Business Problems

AI won't replace developers but will refocus their roles from routine tasks to high value activities such as optimizing and developing custom and complex systems. For instance, developers might use AI to automatically generate boilerplate code for new applications, freeing them to focus on more complex features or solving high priority business problems that AI alone cannot handle.
Jithin Bhasker
GM & VP for the App Engine Business , ServiceNow

Training AI

How developers work is going to change significantly. Today they spend a lot of time running and maintaining applications. I see that time going down over the next couple of years as AI comes in to help. I also see developer's role as becoming more of a guide to the AI — training the AI correctly, giving it feedback so that it becomes more intelligent over time.
Neha Goswami
Director of Engineering for Amazon Q Developer, AWS

As AI tools become more prevalent, there may be a growing need for new roles such as AI-assisted development specialists or AI tool trainers.
Thomas Fou
VP of Compliance Services, BlueAlly

AI Governance and Operations

Looking far enough forward, teams will include entire new titles covering developers tasked with ensuring effective AI governance and operations.
Shomron Jacob
Head of Applied Machine Learning & Platform, Iterate.ai

While some low-level coding jobs may decrease, new opportunities will emerge for developers skilled in AI integration, oversight and ethics. The demand for human expertise in managing AI-generated code, ensuring quality and addressing nuanced challenges will ensure developers remain essential in the software industry.
Pavan Belagatti
Technology Evangelist, SingleStore

Data Scientists

Despite concerns about the machines taking over, it's unlikely developers will be replaced (the good ones, at least!). However, roles will continue to change and evolve. I expect developers will increasingly become more like data scientists working with, understanding, and developing language models.
Rupert Colbourne
CTO, Orbus Software

Dreaming Big

Only a company with a limited imagination thinks of using AI tools to replace developers in the workforce, says Cassius Rhue, VP, Customer Experience, at SIOS Technology. Smart companies will dream bigger dreams and imagine a workplace where AI tools complement and expand the skills of their teams. These smarter companies will leverage AI tools to optimize workflows, improve execution and efficiency, automate routine tasks, document old code to make code bases more responsive, shorten work weeks, and ultimately use the tandem of AI and their existing development workforce to build better solutions for their customers.

Check back next week for Part 11, offering recommendations on getting started and using AI effectively in software development.