I can call myself an average senior engineer. Cannot really pass the DSA rounds at Tier 1/Tier 2.
Somehow was able to keep the jobs I had so far via pure bruteforce and hard work.
These days I am pair programming with AI to write a lot of code. Probably checking in about 10 to 15k lines of code per month on average. I know it may not be a good metric, but if I compare myself to an earlier verision of me, that person would be checking in a 2 or 3 k lines of code at best per month.
I can get the work done, probably can do a bit of good judgement when AI writes sloppy code.
But, I am not sure till when these skills will be relevant
Like what if that judgement is not needed anymore, like 2-3 years down the line?
Is anyone else in the same boat? How are you dealing with this?
So I feel like I'm on the Titanic- the ship is sinking and we're going all to hit the water eventually, the trick is to try to keep dry as long as possible. If you've been in an organisation for long, and you know the business, the people, the organisation, have domain knowledge and can contribute beyond translating to code someone else's requirements... These are all valuable assets that will keep you relevant and useful for some time.
You are witnessing the "Hyper-inflation of Syntax." If you measure your worth by LOC (Lines of Code), you are right to be afraid. AI has driven the cost of syntax to near zero.
But here is what I see in my work with old Japanese manufacturers (Shinise): When "Crafting" becomes cheap, "Responsibility" becomes the premium asset.
AI can write 15k lines of code, but it cannot take *Liability* for a single one. It cannot go to jail, it cannot lose its reputation, and it cannot feel the weight of a system failure.
Your job is shifting from "Writer" to "Guardian." Don't compete on volume (Scale). Compete on the ability to take the blame and guarantee the "Why." That is the one thing the algorithm can never optimize away.
> AI can write 15k lines of code, but it cannot take Liability for a single one.
Thanks for writing this, I needed it.
The addiction to "visible output" (like LOC) is hard to break because it feels like work. But in the AI era, "Judgment" is the new labor.
Think of it like a traditional Japanese Hanko (seal). The value isn't in the paper or the ink (which are cheap/commodities), but in the authority of the stamp that guarantees the content.
Your "tangible result" is no longer the code itself, but the trust that comes from your seal of approval. Keep guarding.
That's us, developers. That will never change. We're the ones dedicated to it.
Execs, managers, HR, salesmen, designers etc won't suddenly want to spend their whole days, not even half of their time, tinkering with a computer so it can do what they want.
Else Basic and Fortran would have made everyone software developers.
Do you feel calmer now? (:
But my question is "how many of those will be needed", because I am not saying that programmers are not needed.
When less numbers are needed, there will be so much competition in finding those jobs, esentially would also mean not able to find the work, as there will be always someone who would be willing to the job at lower wage and come to work with more youthful energy.
Just speaking out loud.
My Claude Code usage is through the roof, however.
This one also: https://terriblesoftware.org/2025/12/11/ai-can-write-your-co...
If everyone is doing high level stuff like architecture and design, how many of "those people" will be really needed in the long term? My intuition is telling me the size of market needing number of engineers will shrink.
The world also just doesn't change that quickly.
Even with the most rosy projections, there is no way that software engineers are unnecessary in 2-3 years. Go have a look at METR's projections, even rosy projections aren't getting us to software that can replace engineers in a few years, let alone having that change ripple through the economy.
And nobody actually knows how far AI progress will go on the current trajectory. Moore's law was a steady march for a long time, until it wasn't.