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Early in my programming career, I designed and built a piece of software that made one very specific job easy. It made the job so easy, that instead of a depart

Early in my programming career, I designed and built a piece of software that made one very specific job easy. It made the job so easy, that instead of a department of thirty people doing that job, the company only needed three, trained to use my software. I put people out of work. It had never entered into my thinking that the code I was writing, the screens I was designing, and the system I deployed would do that. Ever since that project, I think about that. You have to think not just about what the software will do for the people you intend to use it, but what it will do to them as well. With our headlong rush to deploy more generative capacity, there's zero consideration for this. The reasons we're ignoring this are understandable, if sad. There's too much money to be made being the first or best on the block to deploy this capability. There's too much potential control if you're the winner of this race to stop. The downsides will be felt by others, not the ones deploying the software... until they put some of their friends out of work, and even then, they won't look up and notice until it's too late.

gfodor 3y ago
If you knew it was going to replace their jobs, it would be surprising to me if you’d have decided to not do it. The main thing to do would be to give people a heads up so they can try to get out in front of it. Which is something AI companies are doing at every level.
- mnk47 3y ago
  >Which is something AI companies are doing at every level. The message I keep hearing time and time again is "Our aim is not to replace but to empower". The same companies with this message are also saying that their goal is to create a superintelligence that does everything better than humans. As a junior developer, I have no idea what I should do, where to pivot, and what to expect in the next 6-12 months. I'm confused and lost. I don't know which skills I should be picking up and which ones will be worthless. All I know is that just a few months ago, when I expressed this concern, I was told by seniors that I, a clueless junior, have nothing to worry about, that it's just hype, that I'll never be replaced. Now the general sentiment is that juniors are indeed doomed. The sudden shift in tone felt like a slap in the face.
  - nradov 3y ago
    The demand for new software is effectively infinite. The industry is in the process of moving up a layer of abstraction, like when high-level languages like Pascal and C replaced assembly language. Every time a new layer of abstraction has been introduced which increased developer productivity, the number of working developers increased. Learn to use the new tools. And become an expert in the business domain where you work. Developers who understand business issues are far more valuable than those who can only code to detailed specifications written by Product Owners or Business Analysts. Are you reading the trade press articles? Attending non-technical industry webinars? Networking with colleagues outside the engineering team?

gfodor 3y ago

If you knew it was going to replace their jobs, it would be surprising to me if you’d have decided to not do it. The main thing to do would be to give people a heads up so they can try to get out in front of it. Which is something AI companies are doing at every level.

mnk47 3y ago
>Which is something AI companies are doing at every level. The message I keep hearing time and time again is "Our aim is not to replace but to empower". The same companies with this message are also saying that their goal is to create a superintelligence that does everything better than humans. As a junior developer, I have no idea what I should do, where to pivot, and what to expect in the next 6-12 months. I'm confused and lost. I don't know which skills I should be picking up and which ones will be worthless. All I know is that just a few months ago, when I expressed this concern, I was told by seniors that I, a clueless junior, have nothing to worry about, that it's just hype, that I'll never be replaced. Now the general sentiment is that juniors are indeed doomed. The sudden shift in tone felt like a slap in the face.
- nradov 3y ago
  The demand for new software is effectively infinite. The industry is in the process of moving up a layer of abstraction, like when high-level languages like Pascal and C replaced assembly language. Every time a new layer of abstraction has been introduced which increased developer productivity, the number of working developers increased. Learn to use the new tools. And become an expert in the business domain where you work. Developers who understand business issues are far more valuable than those who can only code to detailed specifications written by Product Owners or Business Analysts. Are you reading the trade press articles? Attending non-technical industry webinars? Networking with colleagues outside the engineering team?