80 pc of software engineers need to upskill to stay relevant: Study

In a recent report, the global research firm emphasized that AI will not replace software engineers but rather create new opportunities for them

"Bold claims on the ability of AI have led to speculation that AI could reduce demand for human engineers or even supplant them entirely […] While AI will transform the future role of software engineers, human expertise and creativity will always be essential to delivering complex, innovative software," Philip Walsh, senior principal analyst at Gartner, said.

Highlighting the significance of investing in AI development platforms, he further said, "This investment will require organizations to upskill data engineering and platform engineering teams to adopt tools and processes that drive continuous integration and development for AI artifacts."

The three stages of the impact of AI on software development that are mapped out by a US-based IT research and consulting company are:

- In the short term, AI tools will function within certain limits, enhancing productivity by streamlining the workflows of current software engineers.

- As AI advances, it will eventually expand these boundaries, leading to the full automation of tasks traditionally performed by software engineers, with the majority of code being generated by AI rather than written by humans.

- In the long run, AI-driven development will become more efficient, and organizations will seek out skilled software engineers to meet the growing demand for AI-powered software solutions.

In its survey of 300 organizations in the US and the UK, Gartner found out around 56 percent of engineers believed that the role of an AI/ML engineer was most in demand.

According to reports, many of them even conceded that they don't have the skills to join apps with AI/ML.

The use of AI to generate code has become a promising application of generative technology, leading to a rapid rise in AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot and Anthropic’s Claude. Last month, AI coding startup Supermaven made headlines after raising 12 million dollars in its first funding round, led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

Despite the excitement, the effectiveness of AI in coding is still being debated. Some studies suggest a drop in the quality of AI-generated code, and there are concerns about productivity improvements. A survey of 800 developers using GitHub Copilot found no significant boost in productivity. They reported a 41% increase in bugs within pull requests when using the AI assistant to write code.