As a Software Developer, I, like most developers, am digesting the new reality brought by the AI wave.
As a result, we tend to lose focus on what is in front of us and get consumed by fear. That is why I am openly writing about my approach to solving this issue, and to keep a direction to focus on.
The deep end we need to get out of
There is a lot of discussion about how Programmers will lose their jobs, or how it will alter everyday tasks at work. We’ve already discussed many of these topics in this blog, and on whatever Social platform I open, they’re right in front of me.
Just consuming others’ thoughts, my feelings are all over the place. Sometimes I feel despair, sometimes I feel hope, sometimes I am discouraged, sometimes I feel driven.
To take control of this emotional roller coaster, I decided that whatever the media is talking about, it is good to be informed, but I will give more emphasis to what I see in my reality and give the most importance to that.
Problem Solver people (like Software Developers) are always needed
What I see right now is that regardless of AI, we, programmers, are still needed. In my current situation, I’m doing cloud platform tasks with AWS CDK full-time, building infrastructure for applications others develop.
Although I have two years of experience with AWS and the CDK, I do not yet have the full picture I want to have, and the depth of knowledge I used to have before, with the tools I needed to use. But now, as it is not just a part of my role to help out with infrastructure, but my main duty, I decided to dig deep into Cloud Architecture with AWS and AWS CDK.
I know from experience that learning and reading documentation at this scale is not an afternoon task, but takes months of dedication. So, I need to clear and prepare my mind so I can focus.
AI magnifies my knowledge and reflects the quality of what I can expect. Be it the bare minimum or the purest quality
And NO, AI cannot replace me and do everything for me if I am lazy. It can give me good answers if I can communicate well with it. It can generate a solution that is as good as my understanding of the topic. If I am mediocre, it will give me mediocre stuff. I am an expert, it will give me a superior solution. It can do stuff for me that I do not know how to do, but will give the bare minimum I can explain and expect. The better expectations and standards I can give it to use, the better solution it can give me back. It is a knowledge magnifier, not a replacer.
I need to make space in my mind and routine
To be able to focus fully on AWS, I need to finish the book I already started, since reading documentation competes with my usual reading time. Right now I am reading “The Foundation Trilogy” by Isaac Asimov. I started to read it well before this AI craziness, but I stopped for a while. I picked it up again as it sits on my desk all the time, and although it was written between 1951 and 1953, I feel some parts of this story are starting to become reality right now. Especially how we start to rely on AI and automation, which causes the collapse of the Foundation. Although it is a fictional story, the idea behind it is rooted in historical events.
To cut it short, I am going to finish this book first, and then I can solely focus on the AWS white papers and documentation.
That is my plan for now. I am an open book for you 🙂
How can it be applicable to you?
Clear your head and emotions
I would recommend that all Software Engineers clear their heads and emotions caused by the AI media hype and look at the reality and opportunities straight in front of you. What do the job postings say they need help with? If you have a job, what is the new bottleneck since AI picked up? Or do you need help introducing it to keep your company in the market long term? Is it communication that needs to be helped with? New processes, new tools, new architectural work needed? Infrastructure? What has surfaced since the AI wave?
Find the new bottlenecks and suggest a solution. If not already, you will have work to do soon.
If you still avoided it, get familiar with AI tools. It is easy to use
If you are new to it, learning the AI tools used in the new workflows and getting comfortable with it, can be done in a few days. In short, it is like using a chat with other developers, where you ask them to do tasks and you check if it is all good, similarly to a team lead or fellow developer who needs to do a code review and refinement at the same time.
You are good to go if you have that experience. For the technical parts and tricks, you can pick them up easily as you use these tools.
Take control into your hands
Once you have looked at your real reality and opportunities, free from media propaganda, start to let go of the old ways of working and accept a direction where you can use your talent and energy. Learn that new area, like I do with Cloud Infrastructure with AWS, and stick to it until you reach your inner and financial goal.
Repeat
Keep repeating the process frequently, because, with AI, the market is changing rapidly, so we might need to change direction mid-term as the needs are changing. We need that flexible mindset, even more than before.
In my case, for example, as I start to dig deeper into Cloud Engineering, the need for it might disappear as I might be halfway through learning it, but then either something new will replace that need that I help with, or if not, because it is fully automated and they don’t need us anymore (worst-case fear), then we can be content that we did all we could, and there is a time for something new to explore that humanity needs.
There will always be something to do
As we are good system thinkers and problem solvers, we can reuse our passion outside of software development. Wherever I go, looking at any human job, companies need people like us, and we just happened to concentrate around Software Engineering. Others need people like us too; we will always have something to do 🙂
It is all up to you!
