Coders: Ask Not for Whom the Bell Tolls …
Read and take heed.
This article over at Towards Data Science is like a Matryoshka doll of issues.
As recently as a couple of years ago, there was a cry across the market battlefield that if one wanted to get a professional edge they should learn to code. I still hear that advice here and there, but it’s not as prevalent.
Maybe that’s a good thing.
[Cue GitHub Copilot, enter stage left. BeepBopBoop.]
Quote of Note:
“Considering its merits and flaws, it is worth asking if GitHub Copilot affects developer jobs in the future. When GPT-3 was released, the answer to this question was a tentative, faint yes. However, now that Copilot is out and will be a commercially available product that integrates into one of the heavily used IDEs globally, we should reconsider our answer. The creators claim the tool will only serve to boost productivity and free developers from doing manual tasks and help them focus on more interesting work. It might also be possible it lowers the barriers for beginners to enter the software industry.”
Okey dokey … sleeves rolled up, goggles on … let’s dissect that quote from the article and poke at the squishy bits under proper light.
Ah, GPT-3. I recently dashed down a screed about one of its offspring. [Remember the Kubla Khan continuation? Downright spooky.] GPT-3 in its own right is an incredibly powerful and versatile tool that will have deep, myriad and lasting impacts upon the markets [job and otherwise] when increasing numbers of commercial applications are released.
One such application is code generation. Y’know, the instructions that underly, like, all that comprises the silicon tapestry of our society? It’s kind of a thing.
Well, now it appears that “Copilot”, built upon GPT-3, is even better at code generation.
Suddenly, that sage counsel to “learn to code” to increase professional veracity seems a bit … quaint.
[Sidebar: I’m all in favor of self-improvement. Obviously. If learning to code lights your fire and is a solid mental exercise for you, have at it. I just wouldn’t try to hang my professional hat on it. Not anymore. That ice raft is clearly melting.]
While the author of the Towards Data Science piece ties things off with a hale fist-shake aimed squarely at the idea that programmers will never be completely displaced by AI, the sober fact remains — companies have to make money. That’s why they exist, regardless of whatever glad-handing slogan they may sling. Automating tasks formerly performed by highly-paid software engineers sure helps with bolstering the bottom line [and the soup line, as well].
This raises a big question: will programmers ever be fully replaced by AI? Just consulted the olde shewstone — and hey, not sure. Some human [at the moment] has to define objectives for the software to achieve and serve as a guiding shepherd throughout the process. Will that role always be fulfilled by a human? Time will tell. [Hell, it may fall upon AI to define organizations’ strategic direction in the near future.]
Another thing. That last bit: “The creators claim the tool will only serve to boost productivity and free developers from doing manual tasks and help them focus on more interesting work.” Well, sure. Right. That.
Thing is: do the organizations that pay the developers currently have the appetite or capability to shunt displaced developers over to “focus on more interesting work”? What is that, exactly? Would the developers be well-suited to do such work?
This is a variation on a theme, an excuse that’s trotted out early and often in discussions about displacement caused by automation. ‘People will be free of the mundane and will be able to contribute strategically and creatively!’ Yeah? Is the company beating down their employees’ doors asking them for help on those fronts now? No? Well, then, why would automation cause such a seismic cultural shift?
Spoiler: it won’t.
My advice to developers [and anyone else who may be affected by automation — in other words, everyone] is to examine your total toolbox. What skills do you have that you may not have considered useful, or that you haven’t used in a while?
How might you lash together your current and latent skills into a unique offering? How can you then continually hone and position that unique offering?
We’ve all got some very interesting times on the horizon. Major shifts are underway, and we need to learn how to deal with the choppy sea.
Surf’s up.
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