Will ChatGPT make my software engineering job redundant?

There is a real buzz about ChatGPT and other LLMs at the moment and rightly so - writing Limericks and Haikus about esoteric topics such as Prince Louis's antics during the coronation is pretty fun and impressive, but whenever this type of significant tech innovation happens, there is always a ripple of anxiety that runs through the software engineering community as to what will it mean for our jobs.

Before I put my thoughts down on early observations in my engineering team and what that might mean, it felt reasonable to ask ChatGPT what it thought...

Well, it seems to be being modest, or at least not alerting us to its plans to do software engineers out of their jobs.

This is what I have anecdotally heard from engineers in my team. It's a great starting point; it can generate boiler plate code, suggest unit tests to write, refactor, optimise and format code. It can even give a head start on architectural decision making and lots more.

What was interesting in the ChatGPT response on its own efficacy was the use of the phrase 'human capabilities.'

It mentions domain expertise, creativity and problem-solving abilities and then higher level tasks, such as data analysis. Product managers and designers have told me that UX/UI that comes from these LLMs are way short of learning how users interact best with software.

That's great news but news that we should use to adapt ourselves as software engineers; no longer will we be top of the tree by writing lots of complex code and think our job is done. Those who succeed will be those one who *are* domain experts, who *do* show creativity in their work and *are* strategic in their planning.

So rather than be worried about what it might do for you and your job, use it as a motivator to enrich you and your value as a human software engineer. Understand your domain - not just the bit you are doing on that user story, but how it fits into the bigger picture of your organisation's business. Be creative; knowing what is possible with software tools, think of implementing that change differently to how you would normally.

Not only will it stave off ChatGPT in the future, you might find it's incredibly engaging and motivating for you now!