Computer Programmers

70% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): Jobs in this category face a significant threat from automation, as many of their tasks can be easily automated using current or near-future technologies.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

User poll

Sentiment

The following graph is included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Computer Programmers' was $99,700, or $47 per hour

'Computer Programmers' were paid 107.4% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

Comments

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Timothy (Moderate) 11 days ago

"For example, tasks or task components that appeal to capacities in which AI systems excel, will have to be less (or less fully) mastered by people, so that less training will probably be required. AI systems are already much better than people at logically and arithmetically correct gathering (selecting) and processing (weighing, prioritizing, analyzing, combining) large amounts of data. They do this quickly, accurately and reliably. They are also more stable (consistent) than humans, have no stress and emotions and have a great perseverance and a much better retention of knowledge and skills than people. As a machine, they serve people completely and without any “self-interest” or “own hidden agenda.”"

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Michał (Highly likely) 21 days ago

Without knowing programming at this point you can easily write a good program with the help of AI. I completely agree that this work can be automated.

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TAmzid2872 (Uncertain) 1 month ago

Programming isnt just about writing code, its about problem solving

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Sven H. (Highly likely) 1 month ago

AI can already code extremely well; there will be no need for human programmers in the future.

1 0 Reply

Doubtful (Low) 2 months ago

AI is horrible at following instructions, and bad at understanding architecture. Also, as context grows it tends to forget instructions.

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Jersey Jim 17 days ago

Model Context Protocol helps give AI better context. AI can work across many files now (way better IDE integration has happened in the past 6 months). The limits of AI have dwindled and will continue to dwindle as time goes on. Vibe coding is now a thing and AI can follow directions to build complete mvp's in under an hour.

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Michael Bohn (Uncertain) 2 months ago

For the AI to work properly, you need people who know how to write the prompts and how to evaluate the written code.

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Pavel 1 month ago

But if AI becomes as good as humans then why programmers would be ever needed if not those who work on AI itself? Maybe for some complex and big programms people would still be needed.

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... 2 months ago

How does this relate to programmers? Programmers program not write prompts. Evaluation to code is already possible

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J 3 months ago

Robots aint gonna code themselves, if we get to that point then that's Skynet/matrix. Aka end of the world for everyone so who cares

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PossiblyUnemployed 27 days ago

My worry is if future code-generating models can modify itself or the programs it works on towards a specific goal, sort of like an intelligent self-modifying quine.

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John pork (No chance) 3 months ago

it is because AI and robots require programming and without programmers, they cannot function

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PotentiallyJobless 27 days ago

It is true that programmers were necessary to create and train the models, but at this point what may be more necessary is just making sure the systems and hardware that keep the AI running don't malfunction. As it is, modern AI is finding ways to modify itself and its environment.

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Emy (Highly likely) 3 months ago

Even though programming can demand thinking sometimes, 70% of the work is repetitive or the same across different business. Not only that, but 80% of the time you are not solving any complex problem that demands creativity or deep thinking.

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Jersey Jim 3 months ago

You can convert from one language to another with AI and a developer is not protected by knowing Java vs C#. This further erodes job protection. Recreating the wheel will drastically stop in programming and I'd imagine known problems will converge to one solution.

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rick 1 month ago

programming is problem resolution. there is not a single solution. lol.

0 0 Reply

@irton (No chance) 4 months ago

Why do they already develop this, and AI is not smart enough to do more? To complement, it is good.

1 5 Reply

Cessna (Uncertain) 4 months ago

Some AI can program or help a person program like chatgpt

3 2 Reply

Siddhant Tambe (Uncertain) 4 months ago

In order for AI to truly replace a Human computer programmer job, they will need to be "human" enough to handle the multiple complexities of building a whole ecosystem of a software product, along with defining clients who has accurately specify requirement.
For instance, I asked ChatGPT to write me a simple code that creates a "conversation" with OpenAI's APIs. It could not even do that accurately.
Current likelihood of replacing a computer programmer is laughable at best. Maybe over 20 years there might be "some" progress.

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pleb 3 months ago

To be honest, it's quite scary that most people think this job will be entirely replaced. If AI ever fully becomes "human enough" (as you said! That's a brilliant way to put it) to take over every single Computer Programmer job... well, I don't think we have to worry about whether CS Majors will get employed.

3 2 Reply

Some Programmer (Low) 4 months ago

We need programmers to make AI, the programmers themselves propel AI ahead by making new ideas, AI cannot do that it is simply using the knowledge it has to gen a quick answer for the user based on training, however i do believe that there is a chance that AI will replace humans if its way of thinking becomes completely identical as to a human would think and if quantum computing gets invented.

3 2 Reply

half-full 3 months ago

a good example of this would be asking an ai to generate a wineglass thats full to the brim; it cant because all the pictures online are half-full, lmao

1 2 Reply

Arsh (Moderate) 4 months ago

Some concepts like orginaltity and thinking can not be replicated, but base code is in danger

1 2 Reply

Somone (Moderate) 5 months ago

This job could be revamped/transformed but i don't think AI will take over completely because AI isn't good at randomness and complex thinking/problem solving so i think AI will be a tool that will assist coders, engineers, etc not take over completely.

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random idiot (No chance) 5 months ago

Don't Computer programmers code AI...

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Jamal 1 month ago

I think they do honestly, wait nvm i think its chatgpt giving us our jobs

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Distragin (Low) 5 months ago

The amount of Ai copying from one another is insane if one Ai makes a mistake it could be devastating to other AI informational sources. This is why coding and programming are minimal risk, AI is most likely just gonna copy each other leading to inefficient mayhem!

1 2 Reply

Jersey Jim 3 months ago

These reasons have little bearing on the push for automation. Modern DevOps can push out fixes quickly. Companies don't really suffer much from downtime or security breaches. AI only has to be good enough with slight imperfections to kill jobs. Companies have already be proven willing to eat some losses from self-checkouts versus cashiers. It is cold math. The cost savings will far exceed the losses from downtime or government fines.

0 2 Reply

Guilherme (Low) 5 months ago

Because client's need change and language models can't pick up nuances 100% of the time there will always be a place for programers. But the kind of tasks they perform might change.

1 2 Reply

darkmewtwo (Low) 6 months ago

Ask an ai to simplify code. It will not work

2 4 Reply

Wes (No chance) 6 months ago

You still need someone to understand every line of code the AI produces. Although AI is decent at programming now, I am certain that we will always need a human to write code to some degree.

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