Rich Get Richer, Poor Get Poorer - Dev Edition

No, it's not about dollars.

One quick browse on the interwebs, and you'll see two opposing narratives colliding head-on:

"AI will replace developers completely!"

"AI is creating the worst generation of developers we've ever seen!"

I've been talking to a couple of dev friends of mine as well on this topic, as I am sure you are as well. And the common consensus among folks who understand the capability of AI tools is:

If you're a good dev -

AI does certainly help you get stuff done faster. But at the risk of creating errors, and making you complacent - i.e have to use it carefully, or you'll lose your edge.

If you're a Junior Dev (New to Dev) -

You should try to avoid using AI tools as much as possible till you have the fundamentals clear on what skillset you are learning.

That being said however, there is a lot of 'gray area' to these statements.

- When can one consider their fundamentals are good?
- Isn't the best use case for AI is quickly learning new things?
- Where do we draw the line between too much AI vs auto complete is fine?

This coupled with the fact, that I have personally seen that Juniors these days are relying 'too much' on AI assist tools and it is clear that the quality of code has gone downhill in my industry (Services and Delivery).

I feel like we are at the tipping point of something interesting.

That socioeconomic principle we've all heard -

"the rich get richer, the poor get poorer"

- is now playing out in technical skills development.

The devs, who were already good at the fundamentals, peak at what they do, AI is making them more enhanced so to say. Every day, more and more devs are being equipped with the capability to turn into Product devs.

Indie dev is on the rise more than ever before, and generally speaking, it does feel like, good devs are 'richer' with their abilities.

And the devs who are still new to the field and don't understand the importance of best practices, clean code, DRY, refactoring etc - are relying on AI to figure that stuff out for them - leaving them 'poorer' as a result.

I believe AI isn't going anywhere any time soon. And it will become an 'expected' feature of basically every App down the road.

But at the same time, I do wonder, if someone is keeping track of how complacent low skilled labor is becoming because of AI.

If you're reading this, the key takeaway for you should be to stick to fundamentals.

It is easier than ever to enter a field,
Hence it is harder than ever to compete out of the gate,

But in the long run -

Standing on principles will always beat standing on AI-generated shortcuts when things inevitably break.

P.S Enjoy an AI generated image, pretty sure none's app will break coz of it :D