Many people today are facing a dilemma: if you’re young, should you pursue a software engineering degree? And if you’re already established in another career, should you make a switch to something involving Coding? These questions stem from a larger one: with all the excitement around large language models (LLMs), is it really worth learning to code?
Recently Google’s CEO stated that 25% of the code generated by the company is written by AI. Are we seeing the death of coding as we know it?
And these questions are not just asked by people entering the field. Several professionals whose job depend on coding are also asking them. Should they continue to invest a large portion of their life improving their coding abilities?
To me the short answer is: coding will still be relevant – but maybe not for the reason you are thinking about. Because I think it’s undeniable that coding related jobs will change a lot in the next decade.
In this post, we’ll see some predictions of the future of coding and some arguments in favor of Learning a programming language. With this post, I hope to provide you with a fresh perspective on why
Disclaimer: I have a few coding courses on Udemy and teach coding-related courses at University, so my opinion is influenced by my experience.
Less Demand
Yes, there’s a high probability that we’re going to have less demand for software developers in the future. This doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen from one day to the next. And I also believe that non-technical skills – like communication, collaboration, and leadership – will become even more essential, helping you stand out among other coding professionals.
But, that doesn’t mean that learning how to code here will be a waste of time. Mostly because…
Learning how to code is not just learning how to code
This is probably the strongest argument for learning how to code, even in the decades to come. Learning to code is not just about typing characters on a screen for a computer to interpret— it’s about developing logic, conceptual and abstraction skills.
While learning how to code, I’ve developed a ton of skills that I was struggling to learn elsewhere:
- Problem-Solving: Coding teaches you to break down complex issues into manageable parts.
- Attention to Detail: Programming requires precision. This was something invaluable for my career as I had the tendency to overlook details.
- Patience and Perseverance: Debugging can be frustrating, but it builds resilience and patience.
- Adaptability: Technology and languages evolve, and coding teaches you to adapt to new tools and methods. Learning how to code is a great incentive to become a lifelong learner.
These skills are transferable to a lot of roles and activities that makes us deeply human.
Just as learning to write helps us shape our thinking, learning to code does the same. For me, this is the strongest argument in favor of learning to code – it’s not only a technical skill but a powerful way to develop clear, structured thinking.
Editing capabilities
Here’s a bold prediction: in the future, most coders won’t be writing code from scratch – they’ll be expert editors of AI-generated code. This is already happening, and we can see it in the skills many professionals and university students are developing today. Instead of just learning to write code, people are becoming prone at reviewing and optimizing code created by AI tools.
Humans are mostly editing code in three layers:
- To make code generated by AI simpler for humans. These pure syntactic changes helps with code readability and future maintenance.
- To improve speed of execution. Depending on the tool, code generated by AI will probably never capture certain nuances in terms of speed and efficiency that humans will be able to improve.
- To improve integration with current code and tools, particularly in terms of context. This is where most of the editing work happens – adding a layer of contextual understanding that AI tools typically overlook or detach from.
Even society will benefit from it
Another strong reason to learn coding, is the broader impact it has on society. Learning to code not only sharpens your writing and comprehension skills but also prepares you to make more informed, future-focused decisions. As more people gain these abilities, the collective benefit to society grows.
Learning how to code will make you a citizen that is ready for the future AI world we’ll live in (regardless of the form). A world where machines will play an even larger role in society. Learning how computers work through coding opens up a deeper and philosophical question: could coding become as essential a skill as spoken language for society to function?
While we all know how to speak and write, not everyone is a Shakespeare. This analogy holds true in the world of coding, where there will always be someone – whether human or AI – who writes better code than you do. However, learning to code is a valuable skill that will help us to engage more actively in the society of the future.
For the craftsmanship
I repeat this many times but I think that with AI, craftsmanship will be extremely valued in the future. Most code, writing and other media will be generated by AI, which makes a custom piece of software or any other media crafted by the human mind even more valuable.
This is, once again, a bold prediction. However, we’re already witnessing a similar trend with writing. Consider this: do you, as a reader, prefer to engage with content that’s clearly AI-generated, or do you prefer a piece crafted by a skilled author with a unique style that resonates with you?
While most coding itself might lack the craftsmanship qualities, broader fields like Software Engineering and data analytics certainly do. For instance, there are numerous ways to automate data visualization and communication, yet I find myself returning to the principles outlined in Cole Knaflic’s Storytelling with Data. Her approach emphasizes fundamental principles over mere recipes.
It’s fun
Finally, not everything in life revolves around productivity and demand, right?
As we predict that humans will have more free time in the future, coding is a fun activity that you can engage with. The pleasure of building software comes with a sense of reward by itself.
There are many pet projects that you may want to build: a tool to control your finances or budget, something to keep track of your investments, or a system to control the lights of your house. All these endeavors can be achieved by crafting pieces of software.
If you enjoy the process of problem solving, coding will be a fun activity – can be used as a hobby. If you really think coding is fun to build your own projects – why not start?
These are some of my arguments on why you should learn to code, even in the AI future. Some of these arguments are grounded on a couple of predictions that may never materialize, specifically:
- Craftsmanship will be important in the software engineering of the future
- Most code will be generated by AI but will require a significant amount of editing on top of it
- Some of the skills you will develop while coding will be transferable to other job roles and professions.
- Demand for pure programming roles will likely go down in the future.
- Knowing how computers operate will be important for future citizenship.
Do you have counter arguments or something else you want to add on? I would love to hear your opinions on the comments!