This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Martin Lynch
Every few years, the tech world picks a new scapegoat. This time, it’s AI. “AI will replace developers,” they scream. “Coding will be obsolete in five years!” We’ve seen this movie before, and spoiler: it never ends how the doom prophets say it will.
But this time, the panic isn’t just coming from clueless outsiders. It’s coming from developers themselves — or at least, people who play one on LinkedIn.
Let’s break this down.
Déjà Vu: This Isn’t the First Time Devs Were “Doomed”
Remember when the following were supposed to end programming as we knew it?
Visual Basic (early 2000s): “You won’t need programmers anymore.” Still waiting.
Dreamweaver & Wix (2010): “Just drag and drop, no dev needed!” Every startup still needs engineers.
jQuery & Bootstrap (2012): “Frontend is just plug-and-play now.” React, Angular, and Vue would like a word.
Stack Overflow (2015): “People just copy and paste now.” So what? You still need to know what you’re doing.
No-code/low-code (2020): “Anyone can build apps now.” Yes — MVPs. Not production systems at scale.
Now it’s AI’s turn to “replace us.” The cycle repeats — because it’s never been about facts. It’s about fear, engagement farming, and a whole lot of performative nonsense.
What drives these takes isn’t insight — it’s attention. Fear generates clicks. Hot takes get shares. And the louder and more panicked the post, the more it spreads. That’s not truth — that’s marketing.
These Fear Posts Are a Joke
The worst part? Most of these alarmist posts aren’t even technical. They don’t analyze workflows, tooling, or limitations. They just scream:
“AI is taking our jobs. If you’re a developer, you’re screwed.”
That’s not insight. That’s clickbait for likes and retweets.
AI is changing the landscape — sure. But it’s not coming to take your IDE away. It’s not deploying to production for you. It’s not writing secure, scalable systems. It’s not debugging why the server is crashing at 3 a.m. It’s not sitting in meetings deciphering what a PM actually meant by “make it pop.”
AI Is a Power Tool, Not a Replacement
The truth? AI doesn’t kill jobs. It kills excuses.
If you’re a real developer, AI helps you build faster, think more clearly, and skip repetitive crap. It’s not “replacing you” — it’s removing friction.
But if your whole job is regurgitating tutorials, endlessly copying Stack Overflow answers, and throwing in a “synergistic ML pipeline” to sound smart — then yeah, maybe you’re in trouble. But let’s be honest: you were already replaceable.
Will some low-skill roles shift or disappear over time? Probably. Just like they always have. But that’s evolution — not extinction.
Developers Aren’t Going Anywhere
Real devs still do what AI can’t:
- Architecting scalable systems
- Weighing trade-offs between performance and readability
- Writing code that actually works in context
- Making judgment calls when the data is fuzzy
AI doesn’t reason. It predicts. It doesn’t think — it auto-completes. It’s a tool, not a replacement.
Conclusion: Keep Building. Ignore the Noise.
The idea that developers are “screwed” is pure fiction. We’ve been through this cycle a dozen times. We’re not going anywhere.
So the next time someone posts, “AI is taking your job,” just remember: they’re not speaking from experience. They’re speaking for attention.
Real devs don’t panic.
They adapt. They learn. They build.
And they’re still here.
What do you think?
If you’re a dev using AI daily — has it actually replaced you… or just made you faster?
Drop your take in the comments.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Martin Lynch