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The world of coding is undergoing a dramatic transformation, thanks to the advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), recently shared his thoughts on the future of coding in an internal fireside chat, predicting that in the near future, most developers may not be coding in the traditional sense as AI takes on a more prominent role in the software development process.
This shift, driven by the increasing capabilities of AI tools like Amazon’s Q chatbot and the growing emphasis on innovation and problem-solving, presents a unique opportunity for developers to enhance their skills and achieve more by working alongside this powerful technology.
An Opportunity for Growth and Innovation
As we try to understand this fast development of technology, it’s natural to feel a sense of uncertainty about the impact of AI on our careers.
However, rather than viewing AI as a threat to our livelihoods, we should embrace it as an opportunity to enhance our skills and achieve more by working alongside this powerful technology.
Garman’s insights, shared during the internal fireside chat held in June, highlight the fact that coding is just a language we use to communicate with computers.
As AI takes on more of the “heavy lifting,” developers can shift their focus from routine coding tasks to innovation and problem-solving, making their work more meaningful and impactful.
According to Garman, “Coding is just kind of like the language that we talk to computers. It’s not necessarily the skill in and of itself. The skill in and of itself is like, how do I innovate? How do I go build something that’s interesting for my end users to use?”
This shift in the role of developers is not a loss, but rather a chance to focus on the more creative and exciting aspects of software development.
By leveraging AI as a tool, developers can spend more time understanding what users truly need and creating groundbreaking solutions that push the boundaries of what’s possible.
Garman emphasizes this point, stating, “It just means that each of us has to get more in tune with what our customers need and what the actual end thing is that we’re going to try to go build, because that’s going to be more and more of what the work is as opposed to sitting down and actually writing code.”
The potential impact of AI on the software development industry is significant. With AI tools like chatbots and code generators becoming more sophisticated, companies can potentially do more with the same number of engineers or even fewer of these pricey employees.
This shift in resource allocation is already evident, with AWS having laid off hundreds of employees earlier this year as part of a larger trend of companies shifting resources toward AI development.
Future-Proofing Your Career
While some may fear that AI will eliminate jobs, the truth is that those who learn to harness its power will have a competitive edge in the job market.
By embracing AI as a partner rather than a competitor, developers can future-proof their careers and open up new opportunities for growth and advancement.
AWS is already helping its teams upskill and learn new technologies to stay productive in the age of AI. Garman shared that AWS is actively supporting employees in this transition, stating, “Being a developer in 2025 may be different than what it was as a developer in 2020.”
By following AWS’s lead and investing in continuous learning, developers can stay ahead of the curve and position themselves for success in the AI-driven future.
The promise of AI for developers is to spend less time on repetitive, tedious coding tasks and more time on innovation and problem-solving– an opportunity to leave behind the grunt work and focus on the exciting, high-impact parts of software development.
As Garman put it, AWS aims to “remove undifferentiated heavy lifting from the developer experience so that builders can focus more of their skill and energy on the most innovative work.”
Partnering with AI for Success
As brained mammals, we have a choice in how we approach the rise of AI in the coding world. We can either resist the change and risk being left behind, or we can embrace it and learn to collaborate with this powerful technology.
Industry leaders like Garman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella all agree that AI will change how programming is done, but they see it as an opportunity, not a threat.
Huang has even gone as far as saying that “everyone is a programmer now” because of new AI coding assistants, while Nadella has speculated that easier access to AI technologies will create 1 billion developers.
By learning to use AI effectively, developers can unlock new levels of creativity and productivity, and position themselves at the forefront of the software development industry.
Garman encourages AWS employees to find new ways to incorporate AI into their workflow, citing the example of Smartsheet, a software maker that recently embedded AI features from Amazon’s Q chatbot into a Slack channel to answer employee questions about internal policies and documentation.
AI isn’t here to take your job – it’s here to make your job better. By partnering with AI and leveraging its capabilities, developers can achieve more than ever before, and create software solutions that truly change the world.
As Garman notes, “A lot of times we think about customers, which is great, but I’d also encourage everybody internally to think about how you are just completely changing what you’re doing.”
The Future of Coding
As we look to the future of coding, it’s clear that AI will play an increasingly important role in shaping the industry. While some, like Emad Mostaque, former CEO of Stability AI, have made bold predictions like “there would be no programmers in five years,” the reality is likely to be more nuanced.
Rather than replacing developers entirely, AI is more likely to augment their capabilities and change the nature of their work. As Garman suggests, the job of a software developer will evolve, with a greater emphasis on understanding customer needs and innovating to create compelling solutions.
This shift presents a unique opportunity for developers to embrace AI as a tool for enhancing their skills and achieving more than ever before.
By staying ahead of the curve and investing in continuous learning, developers can position themselves for success in the AI-driven future and help shape the brave new world of coding.
Final Words
We at Fellow AI consider that the rise of AI in the coding world presents a unique opportunity for developers to enhance their skills, boost their productivity, and focus on the most exciting and impactful aspects of software development.
By embracing AI as a partner rather than a competitor, we, oxygen-ingesting creatures, can position ourselves for success in the AI-driven future.
As Garman notes, “It’s possible that most developers are not coding” in the near future, but that doesn’t mean the end of coding as we know it.
Instead, it marks the beginning of a new era in software development, one in which AI and human ingenuity come together to create solutions that were once thought impossible.
