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We're getting mixed messages as to if automation is slowly killing more jobs than it creates. I think low level knowledge worker 'paper-shuffling' jobs are on t

We're getting mixed messages as to if automation is slowly killing more jobs than it creates. I think low level knowledge worker 'paper-shuffling' jobs are on the way out but where to from here? What's out role as coders as we disrupt industry by industry?

svachalek 13y ago
This article seems to argue that automation isn't killing jobs, it's just killing jobs for a certain type of people, nudge nudge. It then proceeds to go pretty much nowhere with the thought. I can't figure out if this is some political propaganda piece or just thrown together by someone who can't put together a coherent argument.
waps 13y ago
You're assuming coder jobs aren't getting disrupted themselves. They are. It just moves the coder demand from "insane" to "extreme" at the moment. I would argue that ever more capable frameworks are destroying opportunities for coders to make money/have jobs as much as they are destroying other's jobs. Paul Graham's great success was such a tool : it enabled idiots to have online stores without help. I used to work in colocation and it was amazing how many servers we rent out that are essentially custom developed online stores for various small service industry companies (e.g. retailers, accountants, call centers, ...). Those have slowly been going away, usually we were getting replaced by larger online organisations that did lots of stores, like pg's application. These days it's mostly wordpress (it's been for a surprising number of years actually), but there was a time when it was other destinations. An entire army of developer jobs has been replaced with a few thousands doing wordpress plugins and selling them. Now, obviously there has not exactly been a shortage of developer jobs, but you do see that you can do ever more without a developer. One day this will reach critical mass.

svachalek 13y ago

This article seems to argue that automation isn't killing jobs, it's just killing jobs for a certain type of people, nudge nudge. It then proceeds to go pretty much nowhere with the thought. I can't figure out if this is some political propaganda piece or just thrown together by someone who can't put together a coherent argument.

waps 13y ago

You're assuming coder jobs aren't getting disrupted themselves. They are. It just moves the coder demand from "insane" to "extreme" at the moment. I would argue that ever more capable frameworks are destroying opportunities for coders to make money/have jobs as much as they are destroying other's jobs. Paul Graham's great success was such a tool : it enabled idiots to have online stores without help. I used to work in colocation and it was amazing how many servers we rent out that are essentially custom developed online stores for various small service industry companies (e.g. retailers, accountants, call centers, ...). Those have slowly been going away, usually we were getting replaced by larger online organisations that did lots of stores, like pg's application. These days it's mostly wordpress (it's been for a surprising number of years actually), but there was a time when it was other destinations. An entire army of developer jobs has been replaced with a few thousands doing wordpress plugins and selling them. Now, obviously there has not exactly been a shortage of developer jobs, but you do see that you can do ever more without a developer. One day this will reach critical mass.