Are We the Next Industry to Fall?

Everyone keeps reassuring us — developers won’t lose their jobs. The role will evolve. We’ll become AI supervisors, system architects, prompt engineers. But what if that’s just something we’re telling ourselves to sleep better at night? What if we really are heading toward a future where most of us won’t be needed?

This fear isn’t paranoia. It’s a growing sense of quiet dread, especially for those of us who’ve been in the industry long enough to see how quickly things are changing. AI isn’t just suggesting code snippets anymore. It’s building full apps, writing documentation, generating tests, refactoring legacy code — all without breaking a sweat. It doesn’t get tired, it doesn’t burn out, and it doesn’t ask for a raise. The productivity gains are undeniable, and from a business perspective, replacing people with models is starting to look rational — even inevitable.

There’s something deeply unsettling about watching the very thing you’ve spent years mastering become commoditized. We poured our time, our energy, our identity into learning how to build. We solved complex problems, stayed up all night to fix bugs, chased the bleeding edge of every new framework. And now, that expertise is being condensed into a prompt window.

Yes, we’re told to adapt. To pivot. To “learn how to work with AI.” That advice isn’t wrong — but it feels…