Sketch2Code | Is The Need For Web Developers Dying?
Short-term: No; Long-term: …
Sketch2Code is an AI that can convert a quick sketch of a website to HTML code. This AI is not new. Microsoft has released this incredible AI in late 2019. After watching some YouTube videos on AI, I started to think, is the need for web developers dying?
Short-Term
Short-term, I don’t think AI will kill the need for web developers. Even with the most powerful AI now (ChatGPT and Sketch2Code), they are more of a tool than a replacement. When I say short-term, I don’t mean one year or two years; I am saying five years. But that can quickly change based on how AI continues to improve.
For example, I asked ChatGPT yesterday to generate a website based on a screenshot I took:
What I wanted ChatGPT 4 to code:
What ChatGPT 4 generated:
This AI (A custom ChatGPT), did a decent job. It was meant to lay the foundation of your screenshot so you can do the rest. As I said, as a tool and not a replacement.
Long-Term
In the long term, there will be changes to web development and overall coding. For example, If Sketch2Code can code a website for you with a simple sketch, web developers won’t need to code as much.
AI is a lot of things: our code helper, our co-pilot, and even our fridge! As more and more AI is integrated into our lives, so is the demand for AI. AI is only improving and humans are not.
As AI continues to get smarter and smarter, people are becoming more obsolete. Why be a photographer with expensive cameras and years of training when AI can generate images with a few words, why become a musician, spending lots of money on instruments and classes when you can press “generate” to make music for you? Why become a programmer when AI tools like ChatGPT can code for you?
These are the reasons why I think in the long term, AI will do our jobs for us, and this is only the beginning.
What I Think
I know web development is not dying. This year, more than one million unfilled spots need to be filled by developers!
The way I see it, ChatGPT (and other AI tools), just like NFTs, will die out eventually. I’m not saying AI is dying. It’s thriving! I’m saying that (not so soon!) ChatGPT and other AI tools will get overtaken by more, smarter, and overall better AI. AI, after all, is a tool and not a replacement.
It is a great time to be a web developer! AI is not everything, but it is a lot of things.
Conclusion
AI isn’t everything. People say “AI is the future and that’s all we should focus on.” or “Why be a web developer when there are AI tools that can make websites in seconds?”. These claims are not accurate.
I went to the website, “Will Robots Take My Job” and searched for web developers the results were rather shocking. Some people thought AI would take my job! W.R.T.M.J runs on votes from users around the world, so the results might be biased, inaccurate, or someone might be trolling, so it is not a very reliable tool.
If there is one thing that might make me keep my job is that when you are a web developer, you need originality. “StackOverflow Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V ‘developers’” won’t get a job because they won’t know how to code. That’s one thing AI isn’t good at. Robots are copy-and-paste machines!