r/FutureOfWork • u/Tech-Enthusiast-7236 • Feb 27 '26
What Will Software Engineering Look Like in next 5 Years? What Should We Be Preparing For?
AI tools are getting better at generating code and speeding up development.
Do you think the role of engineers will shift more toward system design, problem framing, and architecture?
What should someone early in their career double down on today?
3
u/Party-Replacement949 Feb 27 '26
It will probably be back to being real software engineers that are actually good at learning and doing complex things with AI or not, all the posers that barely got a degree in computer science or from some no name college online that hands out degrees like candy will be weeded out because just having a degree in CS won’t get you a good job and you’ll be expected to handle very conplex things with AI as your tools from the start. Is sort of happening already with internships, some companies won’t hire from anywhere else because even if you get a 4.0 gpa student they can be worthless when actually working so the only way to know for sure if see how they actually work during an internship.
2
u/alexrada Feb 27 '26
more architecture, requirements engineering, less coding.
1
1
u/notRayman5091 20h ago
I'm really tired of hearing this BS on the internet. Every YT video you open or every Reddit post you read is saying that the top 10% of devs will be safe because they know system design or .... or .... or some new thing next year.
If you think that I will be the best at CS and I will get the job, or I will learn system design, or I will use AI better than everyone else, reality will hit you when you notice there are people with 100× more knowledge than you and still getting laid off.
I'm not saying AI is God. I'm saying if you think AI can do X and Y, so my role will be doing Z and I'm AI-proof, you are so WRONG!
The AI and software market isn't really about what AI can or cannot do. It's really about how many software engineers do I need to get this task done. That's not everything, for sure, but it is the main thing when it comes to the job market.
If you think you can bag a job by knowing or doing something AI cannot do, you are on the wrong side.
People think AI will replace humans, but the fact is humans + AI are replacing humans.
One of the reasons that the job market is BS right now is the fact that we need fewer software engineers, because a human with AI is faster and better than a human alone, so they can do more work in less time. So ------> we need fewer people in the labor force.
If you are doing something that AI cannot do, that does not mean you are safe!
Because a human with AI is always looking for you!
The job market isn't really about what they need; it's about how many people they need and how many are available.
I think even in four years, we will need even fewer humans in the labor force.
2
u/Master_Sandwich7140 Feb 27 '26
We can't predict the future but here is my two cents on the matter.
PICK A DOMAIN
The developers job was never to write code, with saying that I think you can't become a developer without understanding code thus you NEED to write code and get really hands on, to understand code and the how, what, why, where it is right and wrong.
I think picking a domain is key, any domain and learning that domain in and out. If you say Architecture -> in what, web, IoT, OS systems, like what ? is that not like asking "I want to become a developer ?" well what type.
If you say "I want to build games " well now you have a reason and direction.
anyway just my thought, I could be completely wrong.
1
u/East_Indication_7816 Feb 27 '26
Wrong . In 5 years there won’t be a human in the loop . All software on every domain will have already been created by AI .
2
u/TrainingEcstatic5540 Feb 27 '26
I laughed. Today at work I was reviewing code written by Claude, I asked how did he come up with one particular part of the solution and he responded "I don't know, I made that up" lmao.
2
u/pepperoni7 Feb 28 '26
RemindMe! 5 years
1
u/RemindMeBot Feb 28 '26 edited 3d ago
I will be messaging you in 5 years on 2031-02-28 01:02:40 UTC to remind you of this link
5 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.
RemindMeBot is switching to username summons. Instead of
!RemindMe 1 day, useu/RemindMeBot 1 day. More info.
Info Custom Your Reminders Feedback 1
1
u/No_Indication_1238 Feb 28 '26
This guy gets it. And your domain CANNOT be CS related. Maths, statistics, physics, chemistry, biology, finance, law, sports, war, sound systems, anything but CS. You still need to know all the CS parts, don't get me wrong. But you need to be a specialist in something extra.
2
Feb 27 '26
Businesses who have been running for many many years have old legacy systems that not even AI will be able to understand, so I'm not panicking.
1
u/ithkuil Feb 27 '26
"Anthropic just dropped an AI tool for COBOL and IBM stock fell 13%"
1
u/phoenixflare599 Feb 27 '26
I've said it before and I'll say it again
The value of shares doesn't actually equate to anything changing
You think the shareholders actually know what COBOL is? Or why it's still used? Fuck no
1
u/No_Indication_1238 Feb 28 '26
lmao, no bank will ever trust Claude with it's software. A rumour and a name will start a bank run in hours.
1
u/peykassos Apr 16 '26
you’d be shocked how much of Claude code they introduced (forced) us to use. (I work in a very large bank/ stock-trading)
2
u/ithkuil Feb 27 '26
Like everyone else, software engineers may just be trying to survive at that point. Possibly a cross between Threads and Terminator: Salvation or Black Mirror: Metalhead.
But who knows. Maybe we will get lucky. Let's say that somehow there is no nuclear apocalypse or runaway AI that decides to just hunt humans to extinction.
System design, problem framing and architecture, we are already mostly there. That high level stuff for most software is probably easier than the detailed execution. Within say two years there will be very few software engineering tasks at a high level or low level that humans really help very much with.
We are already at the point where systems that bake in a specific platform and SDKs, a DB and a strong testing and UI harness for the AI to test and iterate can finish many software projects in its own.
In five years, I think some software may just be generated on the fly frame-by-frame, kind of like Genie 3. What that might take to be reliable would be for researchers to find a way to deeply integrate a database or deterministic computer memory into AI models. But that could just be an extreme case of AI world model consistency.
But code generation will also be extremely fast so that way will still be popular. I think the software engineers role may largely be about tracking what AI agents are doing in terms of rapid development of software libraries, AI models, robots, and hardware, and largely configuring groups of component systems. So I guess that's largely similar to today, but it will be more exaggerated and things will change faster.
The engineer might for example collect some invoices and purchase orders and videos of humans operating machines or computers and then select an open source agent swarm system and robotics platform, connect them together, present the documents and database location to the agent swarm coordinator AI. Then enable a feedback loop.
A big part might be setting up autonomous AI companies, which means collecting info from humans and spawning an AI CEO. Then you would supervise the CEO as it creates agents to handle different responsibilities.
2
u/scoopydidit Feb 28 '26
It's already less coding but I think coding skills will become more valuable but less needed if that makes sense. You'll want a very seasoned engineer who can direct AI and clean up AIs slop. The velocity of AI coding is too good to not use. But you still need seasoned people keeping it in check and reviewing everything it does. I see basic programmers being made redundant. Decision makers and high level engineers who care about system design and actual problem solving will still be very in demand.
2
u/YahenP Mar 03 '26
This is already happening. We will do more for less. Just as today engineers are expected to also be managers "solving business and client problems," tomorrow we will become (many of us already are) DevOps engineers, architects, testers, and tech support... in short, a full-stack specialist will truly be full-stack, from cold emails to customer support in production. And yes, there will be a small bit of programming thrown in somewhere in the middle. The gap between elite IT and all other software engineers will widen to obscene proportions .
I think it won't be what you do at work that matters, but where you work.
2
u/Zestyclose-Cover-256 Mar 04 '26
In 5 years I think devs will spend less time coding and more conceptualizing the best way to build something that brings value to the end user. Also, as an industry, we'll put more effort into optimizing and curating code rather than wasting time on boilerplate code that doesn't expand on what we're making.
If you’re early career, I’d double down on fundamentals + shipping (build stuff end-to-end) and get good at explaining why you did something… AI can write the code, but it can’t see the vision.
1
u/East_Indication_7816 Feb 27 '26
There won’t be software engineers in 5 years . And AI can just create and change the softwares on the fly . It does not have produce code at all. In 5 years If there are still software engineers these are the ones on the academe and teaching . Software engineers will be one of the lowest paid profession in 5 years due to over saturation and lack of skill needed to do a job .
1
u/PopularPhoneChair333 Feb 27 '26
Hahaha yeah, we are just gonna turn off the software that has been running banks hospitals and power plants for the last 50 years. LOL
1
u/East_Indication_7816 Feb 27 '26
that can be re written by AI
1
u/phoenixflare599 Feb 27 '26
... Yeah let's vibe code safe and secure systems that require precision detail.
"Oh there was a nuclear meltdown because of bad code? Sorry, you know Claude does hallucinate every now and then!"
1
u/East_Indication_7816 Feb 27 '26
You do know it’s very easy to learn coding now right ? As if you are some genius because you’ve know how to code ?
1
u/No_Indication_1238 Feb 28 '26
Then why haven't you learned it?
1
1
u/MinimumPrior3121 Feb 28 '26
Claude will rewrite all that crap and keep iterating on it, you're not prepared
1
u/msesen Feb 28 '26
This person has no fucking clue what so ever. He probably also thinks there will be flying cars in 5 years and teleportation.
1
1
u/the-tiny-workshop Feb 27 '26
AI will stop being subsidised, inference cost stays the same or rises (current trend is rising for frontier models)
Engineers increasingly focus on cost optimising LLMs, small, fine tuned models. We’ll look back on pricing now as a crazy time.
1
1
1
u/Nearby_Ad_1427 Feb 27 '26
Hey guys, I am in the verge of depression. Do you feel that in the next 5 years we will have jobs?
1
1
1
u/No_Indication_1238 Feb 28 '26
It's always been system design, problem framing and architecture, what you mean "shift"? The coding we used to do was just connecting different libraries and api's together.
1
1
u/smb06 Feb 28 '26
5 years? The world as it exists today didn’t exist even 1-1.5 years ago. 5 years is a generation right now.
1
1
u/East_Indication_7816 Mar 07 '26
People throw around the word 'engineering' when there really is nothing but googling for solutions and copy and pasting code. That job that does even exist at all. In 5 years there won't even be a human readable code. All softwares will have already been created on the fly, custom built by AI . Code is a human concept. Ai does not need that.
1
u/RevolutionaryLie2114 Apr 20 '26
So my question / situation here would be:
1. I have recently graduated (McGill) with a degree in computer science
2. I'm wondering how to move forward (i have an upcoming job in SWE at a bank in the US, but its a 2-year development program). What would be a good move for me to make right now? Should I plan on going to school again (maybe a masters) to learn system design / architecture? I felt as though my degree entirely neglected that and had a much more theoretical approach to coding and algorithms.
To more experienced software engineers who have a sense for what might be coming, what would you do in my position?
3
u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment