The bots are coming to steal our jobs

It is not every day you are told that your job market could be non-existent in ten years but that was the pitch for the most recent tretton37 Open mic session.

Okay. So React 17 is coming out with no new features. Awesome. What’s next in the front end? Oh yeah, unemployment:

We will just let this stock photo robot made from trash represent one of the most advanced technological concepts humanity has every constructed (AI).

The bots are coming…

Michał Łusiak self-reportedly applied click-baiting with his headline: “Will most programmers be unemployed in ten years?”. Nothing like an existential threat to keep the audience listening. Turns out Łusiak was referring to how no-code front end development is picking up speed. There have of course been a number of platforms similar to Wordpress where knowing how to code is not a requirement but Michał Łusiak presented recent examples of algorithms being fed a simple text describing Instagram and returning a close copy — in working code. One example is the UX tool Figma where a plugin gives users the option to simply describe their app in text and the design will will be generated for the user.

Michał Łusiak during his talk on front end coding AI. Photo: tretton37 AB

Words of consolation

Terrifying for front end developers? Perhaps, but Łusiak pointed out that the estimated need for developers in the coming years far overshoot the projected number of available ones, thus creating the need for alternative solutions. Perhaps it simply means less boilerplate, just like many other advancements in web development? Michał Łusiak pointed to the Kübler-Ross model for change:
Shock=> Denial => Frustration => Depression => Experiment => Decision => Integration

On the topic of unemployment Łusiak simply replied on Slack:

“:) we should be fine”

You can follow Michał Łusiak on Twitter.