I think, for those of us who have been in this industry for 20 years, AI isn't going to magically make me lose everything I learned.
However, for those in the first few years of their career, I'm definitely seeing the problem where junior devs are reaching for AI on everything, and aren't developing any skills that would allow them to do anything more than the AI can do or catch any of the mistakes that AI makes. I don't see them on a path that leads them from where they are to where I am.
A lot of my generation of developers is moving into management, switching fields, or simply retiring in their 40s. In theory there should be some of us left who can do what AI can't for another 20 years until we reach actual retirement age, but programming isn't a field that retains its older developers well. So this problem is going to catch up with us quickly.
Then again, I don't feel like I ever really lived up to any of the programmers I looked up to from the 80s and 90s, and I can't really point to many modern programmers I look up to in the same way. Moxie and Rob Nystrom, maybe? And the field hasn't collapsed, so maybe the next generation will figure out how to make it work.
However, for those in the first few years of their career, I'm definitely seeing the problem where junior devs are reaching for AI on everything, and aren't developing any skills that would allow them to do anything more than the AI can do or catch any of the mistakes that AI makes. I don't see them on a path that leads them from where they are to where I am.
A lot of my generation of developers is moving into management, switching fields, or simply retiring in their 40s. In theory there should be some of us left who can do what AI can't for another 20 years until we reach actual retirement age, but programming isn't a field that retains its older developers well. So this problem is going to catch up with us quickly.
Then again, I don't feel like I ever really lived up to any of the programmers I looked up to from the 80s and 90s, and I can't really point to many modern programmers I look up to in the same way. Moxie and Rob Nystrom, maybe? And the field hasn't collapsed, so maybe the next generation will figure out how to make it work.