Will AI take web developer jobs?

AI creates bloated, sometimes nonsensical output that often straight-up doesn't work.

It's perfect for replacing web developers.

It can make mobile apps, too.

GPT4o-mini, I asked it to refactor my class to a property with backing field and trim. It did that, but it also lost my Email property in the process. I asked it about it and it apologized and gave it back. Same with GPT4o.

AI is problematic because it creates code that is good enough but would have been better if you wrote yourself. Leading to many papercuts.

The real question is will AI create a shortage of developers to fix the mess!

I’m pretty sure there are more web developers now than before DIY website builders like square space came out.

More interesting view. Will the web change again. Will everything just be thin veneer in front of AI. Why even develop anything, but a frontend for AI and then do everything with AI...

Maybe idea of using AI to develop anything is going to die and instead it is just setting up AI that everyone then has to use...

Code has externally verifiable boundaries - tests pass, features work, requirements are met. These are measurable, binary states.

But an artist's boundaries are internal and subjective. They're set by: - Emotional satisfaction with the work - Achievement of their vision - Cultural/personal context - Intuitive sense of "rightness"

This is why AI can more readily determine when code is "done" - it matches against explicit criteria. But AI struggles with artistic completion because it requires an internal, subjective experience of satisfaction that AI can't access.

The artist knows to stop when the work resonates with their intended emotional impact. Code is done when it works as specified. One is bounded by feeling, the other by function.

It’s hard to know how this will affect jobs but the argument that current day capabilities will be relevant in the near future doesn’t make much sense to me.

I think it would be unexpected if within 2 years we don’t have AI systems that have excellent taste and judgement.

You know this reminds me of flat design. "They won't need designers anymore, the developer can do it all!"

Sure, icon designers of 2005 would kick the little figma butts today, but we didn't get rid of designers, and we still need them.

It doesn't need to completely replace software devs. Rather, AI will make a $25k/year software dev as good as a $250k/year software dev, and the 25k one won't even need to speak English. The real question is: will AI enable the now jobless 250k software dev do something that's so valuable that the US companies will need his services at this price?

I appreciate that Al describes what AI is bad at, what it's good at, and what types of products/work are at risk of being replaced.

Overall, I think building sophisticated apps/SaaS is safe because LLMs can't generate the overall quality experience that customers want.

But I agree with Al that AI allows people to generate apps for personal use and low-quality website templates.

AI will not take anyone's jobs. Executives looking to juice the value of their stock portfolio and cut expenses to create a better revenue story for the companies they run will fire people and attempt to smear "AI" all over their operations.

It frees up code monkeys to become designer/testers.

It will happen when we stop using the web as "the web" and treat it as a Software as a Service delivery network.

It creates more competition and jobs are harder to get, so yes it will take some developer jobs, but not all of them.

Simple answer No.

Disclaimer, I did not use AI for this post.

If so, will AI be WFH or have to be in office and attend meetings?

AI isn't taking American jobs. Foreign developer agencies utilizing AI and being paid a fraction of what American employees are being paid are taking American jobs.

It might replace juniors in the short term.

But by the time it can replace (not merely assist) senior engineers, anyone who has a job in front of a computer, about 80% of workers, will have their job automated by AI and we'll need an alternative (or big changes to) to capitalism. Otherwise, this particular economic system will experience massive collapse.

depends on how dumb managers are

It's missing one critical point: if AI makes a good developer 10% more productive, the industry needs 10% less developers to achieve the same output.

You're not getting replaced by AI. You're getting replaced by a coworker using AI. It doesn't matter how poorly AI performs at any remotely complicated task, what matters is how many developer-hours it saves by not having to manually write as much boilerplate.

Let's just say it won't take the jobs of pilots.

But for web developers? Most certainly Yes. They will be the first and especially for those who love redoing their web app with hundreds of web frameworks, releasing web app clones, javascript and debating about the sea of libraries to use that compete against themselves.

It is best trained on the entire javascript and typescript ecosystem and those specializing in web development which is the low hanging fruit, will be easily replaced.