| There may be a small bit of truth in each claim, but they are mostly false. > LLMs and Agents are not automating SWE, but they are changing it. LLMs are maybe a slightly larger threat to SWE careers than the ability to copy/paste code from stack overflow. > Interviews have become nightmares Interviews if anything have gotten slightly better. Companies stopped asking riddles like, “how many windows are in Seattle”. > A lot of SWE work is objectively make-work, and a lot of startups are building fluff or things that are net negative to society. This has been the case for a long long time. > Beyond this, the supply for SWEs vs the demand is clearly imbalanced on the supply side. Tech salaries say otherwise. They don’t pay 3-4x the average household income out of kindness. > Is SWE a sustainable career anymore? Definitely, though it depends on your definition of sustainable. If you want a remote position, 30 hour work week, and a $200k+ salary maybe not. But lots of people will continue to earn a good amount in an overall cushy job as SWEs for the foreseeable future. |