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As an SRE I can tell you AI can't do everything. I have done a little software development, even AI can't do everything. What we are likely to see is operationa

As an SRE I can tell you AI can't do everything. I have done a little software development, even AI can't do everything. What we are likely to see is operational engineering become the consolidated role between the two. Knows enough about software development and knows enough about site reliability... blamo operational engineer.

mellosouls 9mo ago
"As an SRE I can tell you AI can't do everything." That's what they used to say about software engineering and yet this is becoming less and less obvious as capabilities increase. There are no hiding places for any of us.
- TuxSH 9mo ago
  Not the person you are replying to but, even if the technical skills of AI increase (and stuff like Codex and Claude Code is indeed insanely good), you still need someone to make risky decisions that could take down prod. Not sure management is eager to give permission to software owned by other companies (inference providers) the permission to delete prod DBs. Also these roles usually involve talking to other teams and stakeholder more often than with a traditional SWE role. Though > There are no hiding places for any of us. I agree with this statement. While the timeline is unclear (LLM use is heavily subsidized), I think this will translate into less demand for engineers, overall.
  - pjmlp 9mo ago
    Indeed, however the amount of "someone" is going to be way less.
  - Sparkyte 9mo ago
    I think it is important to know that AI needs to be maintained. You can't reasonably expect it to have a 99.9% reliability rate. As long as this remains true work will exist in the foreseeable future.
- bigstrat2003 9mo ago
  It's still perfectly obvious as AI can't remotely write software if you want it to actually, you know, work.
squidbeak 9mo ago
Paraphrase: "As an SRE I can tell you that the undetermined and unknowable potential of AI definitely won't involve my job being replaced."
- Sparkyte 9mo ago
  Actually it is more that my role will transform and I have no say in it.

mellosouls 9mo ago

"As an SRE I can tell you AI can't do everything." That's what they used to say about software engineering and yet this is becoming less and less obvious as capabilities increase. There are no hiding places for any of us.

TuxSH 9mo ago
Not the person you are replying to but, even if the technical skills of AI increase (and stuff like Codex and Claude Code is indeed insanely good), you still need someone to make risky decisions that could take down prod. Not sure management is eager to give permission to software owned by other companies (inference providers) the permission to delete prod DBs. Also these roles usually involve talking to other teams and stakeholder more often than with a traditional SWE role. Though > There are no hiding places for any of us. I agree with this statement. While the timeline is unclear (LLM use is heavily subsidized), I think this will translate into less demand for engineers, overall.
- pjmlp 9mo ago
  Indeed, however the amount of "someone" is going to be way less.
- Sparkyte 9mo ago
  I think it is important to know that AI needs to be maintained. You can't reasonably expect it to have a 99.9% reliability rate. As long as this remains true work will exist in the foreseeable future.
bigstrat2003 9mo ago
It's still perfectly obvious as AI can't remotely write software if you want it to actually, you know, work.

squidbeak 9mo ago

Paraphrase: "As an SRE I can tell you that the undetermined and unknowable potential of AI definitely won't involve my job being replaced."

Sparkyte 9mo ago
Actually it is more that my role will transform and I have no say in it.