IT is never static. I have had to take several forks in my career with languages and technologies often leading to dead-ends and re-training. It is amazing how much you learn doing one thing directly translates to another, it can often lead to you not having a specific/narrow mindset too.
Having an LLM next to you means there is never a stupid question, I ask the AI the same stupid questions repeatedly until I get it, that is not really possible with a smart human, even if they have the patience, you are often afraid to look dumb in their eyes.
I'm worried about being replaced by LLM. If it keeps evolving to the point where a CTO can ask LLM to do something and deploy it, why he would pay for a team of engineers?
Forking to different technologies and languages is one thing (I've been there, I started with PHP and I haven't touch it for almost a decade now), but being replaced by a new tech is something different. I don't see how I could pivot to still be useful.
I see it more as “if an LLM can do that, why would I need an employer?”
This coin has two sides. If a CTO can live without you, you can live without an expensive buffer between you and your clients. He’s now just a guy like you, and adds little value compared to everyone else.
I think the replacement for developers won't be CTOs but program managers -- folks with business degrees (or none at all) but who understand the company's needs for the software and can translate them into prompts to build the product without any understanding of how to code. (Some places call these folks 'software anthropologists'.) They'll hone the product iteratively though development almost like a genetic algorithm would, by trial and error -- rejecting or revising the output verbally (and eventually by interacting with components seen on the screen). Vibe programming by business types will replace today's software engineers.
Where in reality can a CTO talk to a human and deploy it? It takes engineers to understand the requirements and to iterate with the CTO. The CTO has better things to do with their time than wrestle with an LLM all day.
Right now we're trained computer masseuses, not yet computer babysitters.
And to torture the analogy further since Im already in this rabbit hole, masseuses and babysitters probably have to put in the same amount of effort in their work.
Having an LLM next to you means there is never a stupid question, I ask the AI the same stupid questions repeatedly until I get it, that is not really possible with a smart human, even if they have the patience, you are often afraid to look dumb in their eyes.