[–] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The actual stack tech companies have that allows them to drop most of their workforce for AI is different to what you might be currently doing. Most solo developers are still writing code line by line using a terminal where they ask it to generate code, build an app or fix code they copy pasted into that terminal.

Large scale operations break down a project into agents where each agent is built for a particular task like design, architecture, documentation, writing code, testing etc and in the end they function together to produce a product.

Now most of the stack is automated and the role of a human is basically being a lead telling these agents what to do. Of course sometimes a human needs to fix some code themselves but the time and money saved vastly outpaces any potential downsides. Error rate when using AI is dropping fast and now its much easier to catch any potential mistakes or even rebuild the entire product if the architecture turns out to be a poor choice using AI.

When it comes to stories of agents going rouge and dropping entire databases on a whim, just like a human dev we don't give it access to prod or live databases, ideally the whole stack runs in a sandboxed environment. The upside is now theirs a new job title where your responsibility is making sure agents cant do those things.

Basically all the fun parts of software engineering is handled by AI while you get all the stressful unfun work, that's why people are retiring en mass. Fortunately your CS degree is and will be still useful as you no doubt seen the mass of terribly cobbled together projects written by Chat GPT in a browser coordinated by Garry from sales.

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