Developers won't be out of work because of AI, but juniors...

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If you're a software developer, I don't think AI is going to put you out of work, at least in the short term. In the long term, well... we'll see what happens. Except if you're a junior, I think things change a bit there.

Remember: this is purely my opinion. You can agree, disagree, partially agree, etc. But in this case, before telling you why, I want to show you a question I asked ChatGPT. I'll show it to you, and we'll analyze it in a few moments, to the point I want to get to.

What does a junior developer do?

Before that, I want to talk a little about what a junior is, or what the role of a junior is in a company, which is what I'm trying to get to. And, before that... the blessed blog! For God's sake:

desarrollolibre.net/blog

For me, a junior can fill several roles, but I think the main one is making small developments. Understandably, precisely because of the junior's lack of experience, the person in charge will tell the junior:

“Look, we need to create a modal that, when clicked, pops up, does some stupid animation, shows you some information, and, well, does that.”

Ah, perfect, we already have the modal.

“Then create a form out there using such and such a thing, or figure out how to use it or create it in such and such a technology, and finish the development.”

“Ah, perfect. Create me a paginated list of certain publications. For this, remember, we have such a thing...”

That is, it's literally a person—and I think you can already see the references—to whom you tell a development you want them to do, something you can control. Something that you see as not going to be very creative. Understandably, you're not going to tell the junior, "Make me the complete application the client requested, which has 20 different modules," because that's going to be a four-headed snake.

You try to guide them a bit, guiding them on how to do their developments, and obviously answering their questions and so on.

The key point: limited tasks

What I'm getting at, and the most important point: the junior is making small developments. In other words, you're never going to give them free rein—as you might with a semi-senior or senior—to do whatever they see fit. Obviously, they're a person with little experience. And that's the point.

So, what's my point with this? The key factor is this: a junior is someone you're going to ask for very limited developments, and that's practically it.

ChatGPT/AI enters the scene

And this is where ChatGPT or some other AI comes in. For me, that's precisely what this type of AI allows for. I say ChatGPT because it's the one I use and I think it's the most general, but there are probably other, more specific ones that I haven't tried yet, since this one is enough for me.

My experience with AI has mostly been with ChatGPT, because it's served me well. Literally, it serves me well for what I need it for. I haven't had the need to try anything else.

What ChatGPT can do (and what it can't)

For example, if I need a small development project:

“I need to make a modal. I need to make pagination. I need to make a graph. I need to make a filtered list. I need to make a form with validations. I need to convert HTML to PDF. I need to make a Vue component that does this…”

I ask ChatGPT, and in a matter of seconds or minutes, I have a working base. Sometimes they even give me the complete code, explain how to use it, walk me through each part of the code, and if I have questions, I ask them and they answer. It's literally like having a junior developer working with me, but one who doesn't sleep, doesn't get paid, doesn't complain, and is always available.

And what about the juniors?

Now, what's the problem? If I had to hire someone, and I see that an AI like ChatGPT gives me a working solution in seconds—be careful, sometimes I have to adapt it a bit, or it's not perfect, but 80% of the work is done—why would I hire a junior?

And this is where many might say:

“Well, but ChatGPT doesn’t understand the context of an entire application.”

It's true, it doesn't quite do that. But here's the important point: if you're leading the project, if you're the senior or the architect, then you already know where the application is going. And if you have the time to coordinate and ask the AI ​​for small parts, you then assemble those parts yourself, as if you were receiving the work from a junior.

And you do it faster, cheaper, without depending on anyone.