"Technology is a word that describes something that doesn’t work yet."
Gino Ferrand, writing today from Lima, Peru 🇵🇪
On Hacker News, Reddit, and LinkedIn, there’s a new thread popping up every day: Will AI take developer jobs? Or will it just change them?
It’s not a hypothetical question anymore. AI is embedded in the workflows of thousands of teams. GitHub, OpenAI, and JetBrains have all rolled out increasingly integrated assistants that can help you scaffold components, write unit tests, and even summarize pull requests.
But the big question remains: if productivity is going up, will companies need fewer engineers?
The Debate Is On
Some devs think the historical record is clear: when a profession gets more productive, demand usually grows.
Farmers got tractors, and farm output soared. More food, not fewer farmers (at least initially).
Bank tellers got ATMs, and banks opened more branches.
Developers got IDEs and version control, and the software industry exploded.
From that angle, AI tools like Copilot and Codex might increase the demand for skilled engineers by lowering the cost of building software.
Others aren’t so sure. They point to recent layoffs at big tech firms and wonder if AI-assisted productivity will justify leaner teams.
Why hire five engineers if two can ship the same features with AI help?
What happens to junior roles if AI handles all the boilerplate?
Could this shrink the entry-level talent pipeline?
It’s a real concern. Even optimistic devs admit they’re seeing fewer job postings that don’t ask about AI fluency. The market is already shifting.
On the Ground: Still a Work in Progress
Despite the hype, most devs agree on one thing: AI still struggles with nuanced, real-world tasks.
A front-end engineer on Reddit recently had a state-of-the-art AI model try to build a dynamic review slider.
It failed. Repeatedly.
Logic bugs, UI inconsistencies, janky behavior.
The takeaway? AI still needs a lot of babysitting when the task goes beyond CRUD. It can help with scaffolding and speed, but it doesn’t understand context the way humans do.
Which means: if you’re a good engineer, your job isn’t disappearing. But the shape of that job is evolving.
AI-Enabled Nearshore Engineers: The Ultimate Competitive Edge
The future of software engineering isn’t just AI... it’s AI-powered teams. By combining AI-driven productivity with top-tier remote nearshore engineers, companies unlock exponential efficiency at a 40-60% lower cost, all while collaborating in the same time zone.
✅ AI supercharges senior engineers—faster development, fewer hires needed
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Enter: Prompt-Driven Development
What’s interesting is how teams are starting to organize around AI.
Devs are sharing prompt templates like they used to share bash aliases.
Internal wikis now include sections on "Effective Copilot Prompts."
Engineers are experimenting with AI to brainstorm function signatures, refactor legacy code, and generate draft tests.
The vibe is shifting. Not just “write code.” But “describe the solution well enough that AI can help.”
It’s collaborative prompting. It’s "vibe coding." It’s weird. But it’s working.
And it’s changing the skill stack.
You still need to know how to code. But now you also need to:
Evaluate AI suggestions for correctness
Understand when not to trust the model
Prompt with clarity and specificity
Debug across human+AI boundaries
It’s a new kind of engineering. And the best devs aren’t panicking about AI. They’re learning to lead it.
Until next time…
– Gino Ferrand, Founder @ TECLA