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Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

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Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#21

Post by rboyd »

senordevnyc wrote: post #20
578_Observer wrote: post #8

Writing from rural Japan. You are witnessing the "Hyper-inflation of Syntax." If you measure your worth by LOC (Lines of Code), you are right to be afraid. AI has driven the cost of syntax to near zero. But here is what I see in my work with old Japanese manufacturers (Shinise): When "Crafting" becomes cheap, "Responsibility" becomes the premium asset. AI can write 15k lines of code, but it cannot take *Liability* fo…

Even if this is true, which I doubt, we're supposed to be comforted by the idea that our role in tomorrow's economic system is to be AI's whipping boy?

We have multiple openings for Senior and Principal Scapegoat Engineers. DM for referral.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#22

Post by 578_Observer »

funnyfoobar wrote: post #6
diavelguru wrote: post #3

I agree with this guy: https://obie.medium.com/what-happens-when-the-coding-becomes... When you look at the AI as having a Jr. Developer at your disposal to do the mundane things you actually elevate yourself higher than you could individually (without the help) as you focus more on architecture and design and guide the LLM to make incremental improvements instead of decremental ones. That's my take at least. This on…

I agree with the takes, but my only question would be. If everyone is doing high level stuff like architecture and design, how many of "those people" will be really needed in the long term? My intuition is telling me the size of market needing number of engineers will shrink.

That is the billion-dollar question.

My take: The market for "Coders" will shrink, but the market for "Problem Solvers who use Logic" will explode.

Think of "Scribes" (people who wrote letters for others) in the past. When literacy became universal, the job of "Scribe" vanished. But the amount of writing in the world increased billion-fold.

Engineering is becoming the new literacy. We won't be "Engineers" anymore; we will just be "People who build things." The title disappears, but the capability becomes universal.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#23

Post by chunkmonke99 »

No one really knows. But a few things I think about myself.

1). There are many many people there couldn't probably already write more lines of code than me and work for much much cheaper (in India or wherever). Same is true for you (probably). Yet you still have a job.

2). I have a friend that works as a Software and System Engineer for a complicated product that interfaces with the real world. He has to use Natural Language to create requirements that gets turns into code by natural agents down in the "Supply Chain". There are also integration engineers that work with the naturally intelligent agents that create the prompts/requirements to make sure things don't fail (then triage and root cause when they do)

3. Why not diversify your skills beyond code but also hardware, systems, soft skills, business etc etc.

No one knows the future sadly.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#24

Post by 578_Observer »

throw310822 wrote: post #11

I'm sure we'll all get replaced in a few years. But we won't be alone, the entire society is going to be upended. So we will be part of a vast social and economic experiment in which nobody (1) will be in a position much different from ours. Hopefully, solutions will be found to avoid complete social breakdown. So I feel like I'm on the Titanic- the ship is sinking and we're going all to hit the water eventually, the…

I feel your anxiety, but let me offer a different metaphor.

Instead of the Titanic (a single point of failure sinking), consider the Ise Grand Shrine in Japan. Every 20 years, they completely rebuild the temple (Shikinen Sengu).

Why? To transfer the skill of building, not just preserve the building itself.

We are entering a "Grand Rebuilding" phase. Yes, the old structures (traditional coding jobs) are being dismantled. But the purpose is to transfer the essence of "Logic" and "Value Creation" to a new material (AI).

Don't cling to the old wood. Focus on being the carpenter who knows how to build the new shrine.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#25

Post by elfbargpt »

I'm pretty confident that if Ai gets good enough to actually take our jobs, it's going to be good enough to take at least 80% of all knowledge work jobs, if not 100%.

In which case everybody is in the same boat and we'll all be in it together.

I don't really believe software dev is uniquely at risk to AI.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#26

Post by satvikpendem »

senordevnyc wrote: post #20
578_Observer wrote: post #8

Writing from rural Japan. You are witnessing the "Hyper-inflation of Syntax." If you measure your worth by LOC (Lines of Code), you are right to be afraid. AI has driven the cost of syntax to near zero. But here is what I see in my work with old Japanese manufacturers (Shinise): When "Crafting" becomes cheap, "Responsibility" becomes the premium asset. AI can write 15k lines of code, but it cannot take *Liability* fo…

Even if this is true, which I doubt, we're supposed to be comforted by the idea that our role in tomorrow's economic system is to be AI's whipping boy?

You don't have to use AI. Regardless, only humans can take responsibility, not computers, and that will never change.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#27

Post by satvikpendem »

funnyfoobar wrote: post #7
vinibrito wrote: post #2

There will always be someone whose job is to program computers to do things. That's us, developers. That will never change. We're the ones dedicated to it. Execs, managers, HR, salesmen, designers etc won't suddenly want to spend their whole days, not even half of their time, tinkering with a computer so it can do what they want. Else Basic and Fortran would have made everyone software developers. Do you feel calmer…

Yes, there will be always someone who is needed to program stuff. Totally agree with that. But my question is "how many of those will be needed", because I am not saying that programmers are not needed. When less numbers are needed, there will be so much competition in finding those jobs, esentially would also mean not able to find the work, as there will be always someone who would be willing to the job at lower wag…

Look up induced demand. As it gets easier, more software gets created, not less.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#28

Post by satvikpendem »

fragmede wrote: post #4
vinibrito wrote: post #2

There will always be someone whose job is to program computers to do things. That's us, developers. That will never change. We're the ones dedicated to it. Execs, managers, HR, salesmen, designers etc won't suddenly want to spend their whole days, not even half of their time, tinkering with a computer so it can do what they want. Else Basic and Fortran would have made everyone software developers. Do you feel calmer…

Exactly this. Sora 2.0 came out! It's amazing. I spent an evening with it and got bored. The amazing limitless potential of it blows my mind. But other than a couple of random attempt, thats simply not where my heart lies. My Claude Code usage is through the roof, however.

This is exactly how I felt when Stable Diffusion came out in 2023. It turns out I am not an artist and eventually got bored by it whereas actual artists used it for hours, the same as we engineers use LLMs. The personality does not change, only the tool.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#29

Post by 578_Observer »

senordevnyc wrote: post #20
578_Observer wrote: post #8

Writing from rural Japan. You are witnessing the "Hyper-inflation of Syntax." If you measure your worth by LOC (Lines of Code), you are right to be afraid. AI has driven the cost of syntax to near zero. But here is what I see in my work with old Japanese manufacturers (Shinise): When "Crafting" becomes cheap, "Responsibility" becomes the premium asset. AI can write 15k lines of code, but it cannot take *Liability* fo…

Even if this is true, which I doubt, we're supposed to be comforted by the idea that our role in tomorrow's economic system is to be AI's whipping boy?

There is a critical difference between a "Scapegoat" and a "Guarantor."

A scapegoat is sacrificed for someone else's mistake against their will. A guarantor (or in Japanese terms, a Samurai) voluntarily stakes their reputation to validate the system.

Why does a CEO get paid 100x more than an intern? Not because they type 100x faster, but because they are the "designated thermal fuse" that burns out to save the company.

If AI becomes the engine, "being the fuse" (taking the risk) becomes the most expensive service in the economy. It’s not comforting, I agree. But it is profitable.

Re: Tell HN: I am afraid AI will take my job at some point

#30

Post by gmreads »

I for one am afraid and this keeps me awake at night, the general take on HNers always seems to be oh you are only doing mundane tasks, AI can't do what I do. Which is partly true, but claude code has improved leaps and bounds almost exponentially at least from my subjective usage. My solution is to just save and invest aggressively and grind DSA to get a higher paying job as I don't see myself in the elites that these discussions are full of. I really am a mediocre prgrammer
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