Future at this point is ... unpredictable. It is unsatisfactory answer but it is true. So what does it take for LLM to replace SWE? 1. It needs to get better,

Future at this point is ... unpredictable. It is unsatisfactory answer but it is true. So what does it take for LLM to replace SWE? 1. It needs to get better, much better 2. It needs to be cheaper still Those two things are at odds with each other. If Scaling Laws is the god we preaching to, then it apparently has already hit the diminishing of return, maybe if we scale up 1000x we can get AGI, but that won't be economically reasonable for a long time. Back to reality, what does it mean to survive in a market assuming coding assistants are going to get marginally better over say next 5 years? Just use them, they are genuinely useful tools to accomplish really boring and mundane stuff. Things like writing docker files, those will go away to LLM and human won't be able and don't have to compete. They are also great second thoughts advice givers, it is fun to know what LLM thought of your design proposal and build upon their advice. Overall, I don't think much will change over night, the industry might experience contraction in terms of how many developers it will hire, for which I think for a long time, the demand will not be there. For people already in the industry, as long as you keep learning, it is probably going to be fine, well, for now.