AI will soon replace software engineers

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Chief Executive Matt Garman said at an internal meeting in June that software engineers may have to develop other skills soon because artificial intelligence (AI) will take over many programming jobs.

"Twenty-four months from now, or some time from now, I can't predict with any precision, but most developers probably won't have to write code anymore," Jarman, who became AWS CEO in June, said in a recording of the fireside chat obtained by Business Insider.

Jarman said this means that the work of software engineers will change. "It means that each of us has to understand more about what the customer wants and what the ultimate product we want to build is, because our work will move further and further away from just sitting down and writing code."

As companies lay off or freeze hiring and redirect resources 

to AI, it’s become increasingly common to hear about which

 jobs AI has changed or even eliminated. New AI tools that 

automatically generate code can help companies do more 

work than the same number of engineers, or help companies

 hire fewer of these expensive employees. AWS laid off 

hundreds of people earlier this year.

However, Jarman’s approach is to share advice with 

employees rather than issue solemn warnings that software 

engineers will become extinct because of AI. Instead, his tone

 is quite optimistic and he believes that there are still many 

creative opportunities for software engineers. He said AWS is

 helping employees "continue to improve their skills and 

learn new technologies" to increase their productivity with 

the help of AI.

Being a software engineer in 2025 may be very different from

being a software engineer in 2020.