Which of your colleagues are screwed?
I've been writing about how AI is likely to affect white-collar (or no-collar or hoodie-wearing) computer programmers for a while now, and one thing is clear: whether someone feels wildly optimistic or utterly hopeless about AI says more about their priors than their prospects. In particular, many of the people I already consider borderline unemployable managed to read Full-breadth Developers and take away that they actually have nothing to worry about.
So instead of directing the following statements at you, let's target our judgment toward your colleagues. Think about a random colleague you don't feel particularly strongly about as you read the following pithy and reductive bullet points. Critically appraise how they show up to work through the entire software delivery process. These represent just a sample of observations I've made about developers who are truly thriving so far in the burgeoning age of AI code generation tools.
That colleague you're thinking about? They're going to be screwed if they exhibit:
- Curiosity without skepticism
- Strategy without experiments
- Ability without understanding
- Productivity without urgency
- Creativity without taste
- Certainty without evidence
But that's not all! You might be screwed too. Maybe ask one of your less-screwed colleagues to rate you.