[adrya407]

>Well, yeah, entry-level IT stuff was always a target for automation

I see this as a progress. Since you replace the first-level IT stuff with automated processes, the now second-level IT stuff will sooner or later become first-level and so on. Therefore all the levels are pushed upwards and we tend to go to higher levels, no matter if we speak about developing, researching, improving etc.

[cmurf]

At least in this case, 56,000 people in the 1st level lost their jobs. What's the total number of level 1's who matriculated to level 2? And is there a net job loss or are the laid off people finding other jobs that pay as well or better?

Without answers for these and related questions, it's uncertain if this is good progress.

[shagie]

From the source article - http://www.livemint.com/Industry/4CXsLIIZXf8uVQLs6uFQvK/Top-...

> Preparing the ground for layoffs, each of these seven companies has already put a higher number of employees on notice by awarding them the lowest ratings. Cognizant has placed more than 15,000 employees in the lowest category (bucket IV), and Infosys has placed more than 3,000 senior managers in the category of employees needing improvement.

This isn't 56k entry level jobs. This is 56k jobs up and down the structure of the companies.

> As IT companies start working on newer technologies such as cloud computing, they are fast moving from a people-led model, which means they need fewer employees. Meanwhile, many of the IT companies have embraced automation tools to perform the mundane, repeatable tasks that were performed by an army of engineers earlier.

> “The entire pyramid structure (organizational structure) is getting disrupted,” the second HR head cited earlier added.

> That speaks of a bigger problem, said an expert.

> “What required 50 programmers, analysts or accountants 5 years ago can be done by a handful of smart thinkers and much smarter systems,” said Phil Fersht, CEO of US-based HfS Research, an outsourcing-research firm. “If I were Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I would be very concerned that a whole workforce generation needs reorienting to address work activities that are growing in demand.”

None of the articles speak to where the people who have lost their jobs are going.

[wyclif]

How much do you guys think current DevOps roles will be automated within the next 10 years? I think about this a lot but then I remember that back when most of these functions were called "sysadmin" tasks, they were always supposed to get automated out but never really did.

[kamaal]

We are/were already there.

Use some thing like Lisp and Functional programming really well and 99% of all the current programmers can be put out of job.

[astrange]

That would be impressive. What do you think programmers do all day?