Gartner warns that 80% of software engineers will need to reskill for the AI ​​future

There is a lot of fear surrounding generative AI and its impact on the labor market. Some of these fears are justified and some are not. According to Gartner, software engineers likely won’t have to worry about losing their jobs, but they will very likely need to upskill – this upskilling requirement will likely be required of 80% of the engineering workforce, the analyst firm said.

Philip Walsh, Senior Principal Analyst at Gartner emphasized the point that people will not become redundant:

“Bold claims about AI’s capabilities have led to speculation that AI could reduce or even completely replace the demand for human engineers. While AI will transform the future role of software engineers, human expertise and creativity will always be essential to delivering complex, innovative solutions. software.”

Gartner also released its predictions on how GenAI will impact software engineers in the short to long term. In the short term, AI tools are expected to deliver a modest productivity boost by expanding developers’ existing work patterns and tasks. The greatest productivity gains will be achieved by senior developers in organizations with mature engineering practices.

In the medium term, AI agents will transform work patterns, allowing developers to fully automate and take over more tasks. This will lead to AI-native software engineering when most of the code is generated by AI.

Gartner believes that in the long term we will see the rise of AI engineering, with organizations needing more skilled software engineers to meet the increasing demand for AI-enabled software.

Walsh explained the role of an AI engineer, saying they have a unique combination of software engineering, data science and AI/machine learning skills. To help this transition, Gartner says organizations will need to invest in AI development platforms that enable efficient building of AI capabilities and enable AI to be integrated at scale.

Source: Gartner | Image via Depositphotos.com