This is a scary scenario and certainly possible, but on the other hand you can find people saying this was about to happen in the 90s and it really didn't. Some

This is a scary scenario and certainly possible, but on the other hand you can find people saying this was about to happen in the 90s and it really didn't. Some jobs can be done the way you describe, some can't and it's hard to know which kind you have without wasting money. If your business is profitable and relies on software, you are much better off having a programmer on staff. It keeps turning out that there is more to programming than meets the eye, that we are very important to the success of the business, and that we need to be closely connected to the business to be able to deliver great solutions. It's important to think about these dark possibilities and resist them, but it's also important to realize these scenarios have a history of failing to materialize.