Despite the AI Hype, Companies Will Still Need Coders

It’s true: AI is entering the tech workforce. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that he was investing $65 billion in an AI engineer that could assist with coding. Similarly, Google launched AI-powered code agent “Jules” that can catch bugs as a competitor to other AI code assistants like Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, and Claude.

Note, however, that Big Tech isn’t touting that AI will take over for its engineering teams. In fact, they’re saying the opposite: “Jules handles bug fixes and other time-consuming tasks while you focus on what you actually want to build,” Google said in its blog post about the new code agent. You could read this as Google wanting to free up developers’ time and energy from tedious responsibilities so they can prioritize more creative and complex projects. Sounds pretty great, right?

Even so, you might still be worried how this advanced technology is going to shape what jobs are out there — and if your skill set will still be of value down the road. 

The short answer: Companies are going to need coders even with AI in the mix. Here’s how we know.

What the data says about AI in tech

Just last year, Deloitte released a comprehensive report on the state of tech talent that argues that despite well-publicized layoffs, tech workers will encounter more job openings and lower unemployment than the general workforce over the next decade. One 2023 survey cited in the report found that 70% of tech workers receive multiple offers while job searching, thanks in large part to sustained demand and a continuous shortage of skilled talent.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the foremost authority on the American labor market, agrees with this assessment. The agency predicts that employment for information security analysts will grow by 33% in the next decade; for data scientists, by 36%; for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers, by 17%; and for market research analysts, by 8%. These are all faster than the average for all occupations in the US, we might add.

If programming and data science aren’t going away, then what is AI’s role in all of it? Experts believe that AI will supplement, complement, and streamline what tech employees are doing day to day, rather than replace the tech sector_{AI Is Here. Is Your Job Vulnerable?} completely. This means that many workers will need to come to the table with knowledge and use cases for incorporating AI into their workflows. Deloitte, for example, cites one study that found that job postings requiring generative AI skills jumped by more than 1,800% in 2023.

That said, industry insiders are still confident with the stability and validity of their careers outside of AI: Our Employer Report found that 87% of respondents expected less than 50% of roles to be replaced by AI, while over a quarter said they thought that less than 10% of their roles would be replaced by AI.

De-hyping AI: Why AI can’t replace coders

If facts and figures won’t convince you, consider how AI actually works:

If data is missing context or certain information, AI might get stuck or produce something inaccurate (or “hallucinate,” or otherwise make something up). 

Like humans, AI can be flawed and biased_{Solving the Trolley Problem Won’t Make AI Ethical}. But unlike humans, it can’t truly “think” or “feel” — qualities crucial to building teams, thinking analytically, creatively, and innovatively, and navigating many nuanced situations. In other words, you could say that it’s not so much intelligent (at least in its form today) as it is statistical.

‍We may need AI_{Why AI Is Your Friend Not Foe} to speed up tasks, catch errors, and get ideation started — but AI needs people just as much, if not more, to keep it on track, feed it important information, and help it evolve over time.

A valuable tool nonetheless

AI isn’t something to shrug about or ignore. Organizations want to hire people who are willing, able, and excited to adopt this technology, and those who do so will likely be more productive and effective, and advance more quickly in their careers. 

Just think how much more you could code, how many more bugs you could uncover, how much more data you could sift through_{How Can AI Transform Business Intelligence?} if a computer — that doesn’t get tired and runs faster than any human brain can — helped you out_{AI Isn’t Going to Replace Programmers. It’s Going to Help Them.}. Or, consider how an AI trained on software development or data analysis could assist you_{Yes, You Can Master Software Engineering. Our AI Will Help.} with a challenging code issue, or answer a question you might have that you can’t approach a boss or colleague with.

Curious about the code behind AI? Check out data science.

Tech has always been a rewarding (and lucrative) career path for many — and that’s not changing anytime soon. Once we embrace AI rather than shy away from it, we’ll realize that together, we might be able to achieve more than we imagined. Worst case, we can remove those annoying little tasks from our to-do lists.

Working in AI can be especially fun and fulfilling for people who love to find patterns in data and be a part of emerging trends. If this field has caught your eye, try out our data science bootcamp, which will teach you about the algorithms, theories, and models that power “intelligent” tech. Plus, you don’t need a STEM background or any previous experience to join and excel in the program! To learn more, check out our guide to becoming a data scientist.