Is Coding Still Worth Learning in 2024?
Summary
TLDRThis video script addresses the concern of AI replacing software engineers and the value of learning to code in 2024. The speaker, a coding course creator, argues that AI will not eliminate jobs but will transform the role, allowing engineers to focus on complex problem-solving and innovation. Citing Bureau of Labor Statistics, the script highlights a projected 26% growth for software developers by 2031. It emphasizes the importance of human oversight in refining AI-generated code for quality and security, suggesting that coding skills remain essential. The video concludes by encouraging those interested in coding not to be deterred by fear, but to embrace the evolving landscape of software engineering.
Takeaways
- 🚀 Starting a career in programming at 30 is still considered wise, despite fears about AI replacing jobs.
- 🤖 AI is not expected to take away jobs; instead, those who know how to work with AI will have an advantage.
- 📊 The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 26% growth for software developers from 2022 to 2031, outpacing the average job growth.
- 🛠 The history of programming shows that tools like compilers improved efficiency without replacing programmers.
- 🔧 AI will likely handle routine tasks, allowing developers to focus on complex problem-solving and innovation.
- 📈 AI-generated code quality is lower and requires human review and refinement for production use.
- 🔍 A study found that code churn is projected to double in 2024, emphasizing the need for human oversight in coding.
- 🛑 Knowledge of data structures, algorithms, programming languages, and tools remains crucial for reviewing AI-generated code.
- 💼 Software engineering encompasses more than coding; it includes communication, understanding requirements, and software architecture.
- 📈 A study by McKenzie found less than a 10% improvement in speed for highly complex tasks, indicating AI's limitations.
- 🌐 The role of software engineers may become more valuable as they will manage and maintain AI systems, requiring a deep understanding of software development.
Q & A
Is it wise to start a career as a programmer at the age of 30 in 2024?
-Yes, it is wise according to the script. Despite fears of AI replacing software engineers, the demand for software engineers is expected to grow, making it a viable career choice.
What is the projected employment growth for software developers according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from 2022 to 2031?
-The BLS projects a 26% growth in employment for software developers, which is significantly higher than the average growth rate of 3% across all occupations.
How did the introduction of compilers impact the role of programmers in the past?
-Compilers made programmers more efficient by handling the conversion of code to machine language and memory allocation, without replacing them. This advancement led to the creation of complex software and applications.
What is the role of AI in the future of software engineering as suggested by the script?
-AI is expected to handle routine and repetitive coding tasks, allowing software engineers to focus on complex problem-solving, design, and innovation.
What are the implications of AI-generated code quality for software engineers?
-AI-generated code tends to have lower quality and requires human review and refinement for quality and security before being deployed in production.
What does the study on code churn predict for 2024?
-The study predicts that code churn, the percentage of lines that are reverted or updated within two weeks of being authored, is projected to double in 2024.
Why is it still necessary for software engineers to learn coding despite the advancements in AI?
-Software engineers need to understand and review AI-generated code, refine it, and guide the AI to improve. Coding skills are essential for these tasks and will remain relevant.
How does the script refute the idea that software engineers can build software using natural language without understanding coding?
-The script argues that while natural language can be used for simple applications, complex software that runs critical systems like banks and airlines requires a deep understanding of coding.
What is the role of AI in improving the productivity of software engineers according to a study by McKenzie?
-The McKenzie study found that AI helps most with documentation and code generation, with improvements dropping to 20% for refactoring and less than 10% for highly complex tasks.
What is the potential impact of AI on the job opportunities for junior software engineers?
-The script suggests that the time savings from AI are not as significant as promised, and the effort required to get usable AI-generated code means that one senior engineer using AI is unlikely to replace many engineers.
How does the script envision the future role of software engineers in relation to AI?
-The script envisions software engineers as being more valuable, developing, managing, and maintaining AI systems, and using AI to boost their productivity while still requiring deep knowledge of software development.
Outlines
🤖 The Future of Software Engineering Amidst AI Concerns
This paragraph addresses concerns about AI replacing software engineers and the value of learning to code in 2024. The speaker, a coding course creator, assures viewers that despite fears, software engineering is not going away and is expected to grow by 26% from 2022 to 2031, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The speaker emphasizes that AI will not take jobs but rather those who can work with AI will thrive. The history of programming is briefly discussed, from manual memory address calculations to the advent of compilers, which increased efficiency without replacing programmers. The paragraph concludes by suggesting that AI will allow for more focus on complex problem-solving and innovation, rather than routine tasks.
🛠 The Role of Software Engineers in an AI-Enhanced Future
The second paragraph delves into the practical implications of AI on software engineering. It refutes the idea that AI will diminish the need for coding skills, arguing that while AI can assist with code generation, the quality of AI-generated code is lower and requires human review. The speaker cites a study predicting a doubling of code churn in 2024, emphasizing the ongoing relevance of coding skills. The paragraph also discusses the broader responsibilities of a software engineer, which include communication and understanding requirements, areas where AI cannot replace human interaction. Studies are mentioned to highlight the limited productivity gains AI provides in complex tasks, suggesting that the role of software engineers may become more valuable as they manage AI systems. The paragraph concludes by encouraging those interested in software engineering not to be deterred by misconceptions and to embrace the evolving skillset required for future software development.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Software Engineering
💡AI (Artificial Intelligence)
💡Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
💡Compilers
💡Code Quality
💡Cod Churn
💡Natural Language Programming
💡Human-AI Collaboration
💡Job Security
💡Programming Skills
Highlights
Despite fears of AI replacing programmers, the demand for software engineers is expected to grow by 26% from 2022 to 2031, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Software engineering is predicted to transform rather than disappear, with AI aiding rather than replacing human programmers.
AI is not going to take programmers' jobs; instead, those who know how to work with AI will have an advantage.
Compilers improved programmer efficiency without replacing them, and AI is expected to have a similar impact.
AI will likely delegate routine coding tasks, allowing programmers to focus on complex problem-solving, design, and innovation.
AI-generated code requires human review and refinement for quality and security before production deployment.
A study analyzing 153 million lines of code found that code churn is projected to double in 2024, emphasizing the need for human oversight in AI-generated code.
Software engineers will continue to need knowledge of data structures, algorithms, programming languages, and tools to review AI-generated code.
Coding is only one part of a software engineer's job, with much time spent on communication and understanding requirements, which AI cannot replace.
A study by McKenzie found that for highly complex tasks, developers saw less than a 10% improvement in speed with AI assistance.
The role of software engineers may become more valuable as they will be needed to develop, manage, and maintain AI systems.
The fear that AI could replace many engineers, leaving no job opportunities for juniors, is unfounded as AI requires human input and refinement.
AI is advancing, but the gap between theory and practice means that human creativity and expertise remain essential for complex solutions.
Software engineering is expected to be extremely important over the next several decades, with changes requiring adaptability and learning.
The future software engineer will need today's coding skills and an understanding of how to use AI effectively.
The output of AI is only as good as the instructions given, requiring programmers to work with AI tools effectively.
Web developers today need to know a wide range of technologies, and this complexity is expected to increase in the future.
The video encourages those interested in coding not to be held back by negativity and fear, as software powers our world and will continue to do so.
Transcripts
I got this question on this channel hey
msh I'm 30 and I was planning to start a
career as a programmer do you think this
is wise comment question a lot of people
are worried that AI is going to replace
software Engineers so is coding still
worth learning in 2024 well depends who
you ask if you ask certain folks the
ones who always seem miserable and say
everything is going to collapse they
will say no coding has no future but
I've got a different take backed up by
real world numbers in this video I'm
sharing data that shows the continued
demand for software Engineers so to
understand where we are now and what the
future will look like for software
engineers make sure to watch this video
to the end first I want to be
transparent I've been creating coding
courses for the past 10 years and in
that time I've been lucky enough to
teach millions of people how to code and
launch their careers in Tech so yes you
could say I have a vested interest in
this field but I want to assure you that
this isn't a sales pitch it's about
helping you make make an informed
decision I want you to hear both side of
the story and decide for yourself what
you believe at the end of the day it's
your decision whether you want to learn
coding or not and even if you want to
you don't even have to buy my courses or
learn from me there are thousands of
great options out there so yeah there is
a lot of fear about AI replacing coders
headlines scream about robots taking
over jobs and it can be overwhelming but
the truth is AI is not going to take
your job instead it's the person who
knows how to work with AI that will
steal your job the reality is software
engineering is not going away at least
not anytime soon don't just take my word
for it here's some data to back it up
the United States Bureau of Labor
Statistics often called the BLS is a
government agency that tracks job growth
across the country on their website you
can see that the employment for software
developers is expected to grow by 26%
from 2022 to 2031 the average across all
occupations is 3% so that's a strong
indication that software engineering is
here to stay but it'll most likely
transform and that's what we will
explore in this
[Music]
video to better understand the impact of
AI on software engineering let's take a
minute and talk about the history of
programming in the early days of
computing programmers wrote code in a
way that only computers understood long
strings of zeros and ones it was
incredibly tedious they had to keep
track of of exactly where each piece of
data and code was stored in the
computer's memory and to do that they
had to manually calculate memory
addresses and make sure that different
parts of the program didn't override
each other compilers came to solve this
problem with a compiler we can program
in a human readable language like C++
without worrying about how that code
should eventually get converted to zeros
and ones and where it will get stored in
the memory that's the job of a compiler
now here here's a fact compilers didn't
replace programmers they made them more
efficient and the result of that the
amazing websites and apps we have today
that no one could even imagine in the
past these days billions of people can
communicate in real time AI will likely
do the same in the future we'll be able
to delegate routine and repetitive
coding tasks to AI so we can focus on
complex problem solving design and
Innovation this will allow us to build
more sophisticated software that most
people can't even imagine today but even
then just because AI can generate code
doesn't mean we can or we should
delegate the entire coding aspect of
software development to AI because AI
generated code has a lower quality and
humans still need to review and refine
it before using it in production in fact
there's a study to support this they
collected 153 million change lines of
code between January 2020 and December
2023 and they found disconcerting trends
for maintenance ability and listen to
their prediction for 2024 Cod churn
which means the percentage of lines that
are reverted or updated less than 2
weeks after being authored is projected
to double in 2024 so yes we can produce
more code in less time with AI but more
doesn't equal better humans should
always review and refine AI generated
code for quality and security before
deploying it to production and that
means all the coding skills as software
engineer currently has will continue to
stay relevant in the future you will
still need the knowledge of data
structures algorithms programming
languages and their tricky parts tools
and Frameworks you still need to have
all that knowledge to be able to review
and refine the AI generated code you'll
just spend less time typing it so anyone
telling you that you can use natural
language to build software without
understanding anything about coding is
out of touch with the reality of
software engineering sure you can make a
dummy app but not the kind of software
that runs our banks Airlines Healthcare
the kind of software our life depends on
we can't let a Code Monkey talk to a
chat bot in plain English and get that
software built at least not anytime soon
in the future we'll probably spend more
time designing new features and products
with AI instead of writing boilerplate
code we'll likely delegate aspects of
coding to AI but this doesn't mean we
don't need to learn to code think of it
like a skilled architect using blue
prints the architect doesn't need to
handra the whole blueprint themselves
but they still need to understand those
blueprints in detail make sure
everything works as designed and give
clear instructions for those building
the final structure as a software
engineer you will always need to
understand the code review what AI
generates and refine it either by hand
or by guiding the AI to improve also
keep in mind that coding is only one
part of a software engineer's job we
often spend most of our time talking to
people understanding requirements
writing stories discussing software
architecture and so on AI cannot help
with that aspect of our work it can only
boost our programming productivity but
not necessarily the overall productivity
in fact another study by McKenzie found
that for highly complex tasks developers
saw less than a 10% Improvement in their
speed so as we can see here AI helped
the most with documentation and code
generation to some extent but moving on
to refactoring the the Improvement
dropped to 20% and for highly complex
tasks it was less than 10% and this
happens when the coding task involves
something the developer isn't already
familiar with so if anyone tells you
that software Engineers will be obsolete
in 5 years they're either ignorant or
trying to sell you something in fact
some argue that the role of software
Engineers may become more valuable as
they will be needed to develop manage
and maintain these AI systems they need
to understand all the complex of
building software and use AI to boost
their productivity now some are worried
that one senior engineer can simply use
Ai and replace many Engineers
essentially leaving no job opportunities
for juniors but again that's a fallacy
because in reality the time savings you
get from AI is not as great as you are
promised anyone who has used AI to
generate code knows that it takes effort
to get the right prompts for usable
results and the Cod still needs
polishing so it's not like like one
engineer will suddenly have so much free
time to do the job of many people now
you might say but MOS that's the current
state of AI look AI is rapidly advancing
and in a year or two it will be able to
build software just like a human well in
theory yes AI is advancing and one day
it may even reach and surpass human
intelligence but in theory theory and
practice are the same in practice
they're not the reality is while
machines may be able to handle
repetitive and routine tasks human
creativity and expertise will still be
necessary for developing complex
Solutions and strategies I strongly
believe software engineering is going to
be extremely important over the next
several decades I don't think it's going
away but I do think it's going to change
in the future we'll have to learn how to
input the right prompt into our AI tools
to get the expected result it's not an
easy skill to develop it requires
problem solving capability as well as
knowledge of languages and tools so
here's the bottom line if you have
already made up your mind and don't want
to invest your time in software
engineering that's perfectly fine Follow
Your Passion but if you like building
things with code if the idea of shaping
the future with technology gets you
excited don't let negativity and fear
hold your back software Powers our world
and that won't change anytime soon yes
the tools will evolve but the true skill
lies in learning and adapting the future
software engineer needs today's coding
skills and an understanding of how to
use AI effectively the output of AI is
only as good as the instructions you
give it think about it programmers must
work directly with zeros and once
today's web developers need to know HTML
CSS Tailwind JavaScript typescript react
nextjs git automated testing and so much
more my prediction is that the future
brings even more complexity demanding
more knowledge and adaptability from
software Engineers if you found this
video helpful please give it a like And
subscribe for more useful coding advice
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