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“The machines are coming”. The idea that AI and automation will be destroying vast numbers of jobs has spread throughout the media the last few years. The jobs of lawyers are being automated, as is much of the job of doctors. It’s not happening as fast as people hoped or feared, but it is happening. It’s only natural that software engineers consider their own jobs.
Yes, software engineering will be automated. But that’s already true.
Take a deep breath and ask yourself the last time you implemented an HTTP server. How long ago was that? Have you ever done it? No?
Very few people bother to implement an HTTP server because that task has been done.
What about connecting that server to your app? And creating a basic REST API? Hrmm… it seems there’s a command line tool that does that now.
This constant automation of software engineering is why our tools get better every year and why keeping up in the industry can be so difficult.
Automation of software engineering protects it from automation
Because so many small pieces are constantly being automated, the profession as a whole cannot be. Once a practice becomes sufficiently routine that AI…