Will AI Put Web Developers Out of a Job?

Why should you hire a web developer when you can just get AI to make you a website for free, right? We are hearing everywhere these days that AI is taking over many industries and soon development jobs will be completely replaced by AI. Let’s explore this question more, will AI take over the web design industry and replace all developers?

The short answer is no. While AI can, and does, assist developers in web-development it cannot replace them. It can generate code, and that code even works well sometimes, but it doesn’t do anything like full-stack web development and deployment. The reality is that people are over-sensationalizing the scope of what AI can do.

While there is some impressive AI software has been released in recent years, the capabilities of AI has been greatly exaggerated in public opinion by click-bait headlines and titles. Those predicting the collapse of the job market in the tech industry are overstating their case. Don’t be fooled; while AI is a very useful assistive technology, it will not replace the need for real developers in the foreseeable future.

AI undoubtedly holds immense potential to revolutionize industries and enhance efficiency, but its portrayal in popular media often exaggerates its capabilities, leading to overstated hype about the imminent replacement of human labor.

What About AI in Other Industries?

drivers are better than AI in trucking industry

Think back with me to the year 2017. Tesla releases the AI self-driving semi-truck and announces that all of the semi-trucks produced by their company would be self-driving in the near future. They predicted that the need for truck drivers would soon be obsolete and would be replaced by their new AI trucks. The result was that people started to talk about what a self-driving shipping fleet would look like and how all of the drivers should adapt to find new jobs. As a result, many drivers left the trucking industry in search of new jobs.

What happened? Well, here we are in 2024 and we still do not have self-driving trucks taking over the trucking industry. Because many people choose to go into other fields, we now have a significant shortage of drivers and still there is not a single AI powered self-driving truck on the highway.

What happened? It turns out there is a lot more to driving than just setting the cruise control and turning the steering wheel. So many safety concerns and troubleshooting issues in driving require a human’s attention. The self-driving trucks could simply not perform as well as real people can on the roads.

Web Development is Not Changing Anytime Soon

web development by a real person and not AI

Similarly, in web development, there are more tools than ever to assist with generating code for websites, but development is far more than just code generation. You have to choose the right technology stack, determine what level of security you need and how to implement it, choose where and how to host it, manage different versions of dependencies, have a plan for maintenance and support, ensure a smooth user experience, and the list goes on. While AI continues to evolve it is likely junior positions will disappear and AI assisted development will become the norm but the need for skilled developers and designers will remain high.

In fact, many sources report that we are actually facing a worldwide shortage of skilled software developers. We will likely see a decrease in demand for junior developers and an increased demand for skilled senior developers. Of course, this may even lead to an increasing shortage of senior developers down the road because people don’t start their careers as a senior developer.

Nonetheless, the demand for skilled developers will only grow in the future. That is why SkyFish is dedicated to ensuring that you have access to skilled professionals to meet your project’s needs in ways that AI simply cannot.

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