I’m a senior in high school right now and definitely need to consider what I’m going to do in college and for work.
For a very long time I’ve been into computers, and am a developer with a few big projects under my belt (this is a burner account for privacy). So, my logical choice for a while was to become a software developer professionally.
Nowadays that plan doesn’t look too promising. AI has basically replaced junior developers (with dubious results) and the competition has gotten much fiercer. I’m not even in college yet so I have a good amount of time to potentially pivot to something else before choosing a major.
I’ve got quite a bit of experience with Linux and I manage a home server, but that probably doesn’t differentiate me much. I’m honestly interested in most things computer related, but don’t know of any specific fields to seek out. If it’s so hard for fresh CS graduates to get jobs, why would any other option be different?
It’s honestly hard to say. It’s very impressive what AI coding can do, especially in the past year, but all AI companies are not making a profit. They’re effectively subsidized by investors. They’re focused on growth. At some point they’re gonna need to make a profit, they cannot continually operate at a loss and focus on growth. In fact, when Microsoft started charging properly it was such a massive deal that they called it the tokenpocalypse.
Honestly, I hate to say it, and I’m not trying to be a tech bro, but I think AI is here to say. What exactly it looks like long term, it’s hard to say. I can say this though, knowing how to program will make you a better vibe coded (I feel dirty saying that seriously). So even if AI becomes the norm, you’ll be better positioned if you know what you’re doing.
When things turn though, it’s impossible to say. It could be in the next year, could be like five years out. It could be that when you’re done with your four year degree, they’re still out here doing this “AI is gonna fix everything and we don’t need junior devs” song and dance.
TL;DR: AI is not profitable now so will get more expensive meaning they’ll have to use it less. Either way, knowing how to program without AI will make you better at programming with AI.