lol but you have to first 'view' something as replaceable before yu try to replace it, no? So companies DO see SWEs as cogs and try but fail to actually make them replaceable, yes?
It's not even as simple as "views as replaceable". It's pure economics. It's someone looking at a spreadsheet going "We spent a lot of money on SWE salaries, our financial results look better if we fire some of them. Is there a cheaper option?"
From that perspective, yes some management view SWE as replaceable. My argument is that all attempts to actually implement that have failed to date, and the most successful financial companies are staffed by upper management who know that to remove much of the SWE staff would doom the company in the medium term.
It's a move of either desperation ("we'll go bankrupt if we don't do this"), or short-sightedness ("if I cut 40% of headcount, our P&L will be better, which will result in better quarterly results, which is likely to increase share price, which gives me a bigger performance bonus. Who cares what happens after that."), or a lack of experience in managing software companies and watching this play out before.
AI, even if it lives up the hype, is no different.
From that perspective, yes some management view SWE as replaceable. My argument is that all attempts to actually implement that have failed to date, and the most successful financial companies are staffed by upper management who know that to remove much of the SWE staff would doom the company in the medium term.
It's a move of either desperation ("we'll go bankrupt if we don't do this"), or short-sightedness ("if I cut 40% of headcount, our P&L will be better, which will result in better quarterly results, which is likely to increase share price, which gives me a bigger performance bonus. Who cares what happens after that."), or a lack of experience in managing software companies and watching this play out before.
AI, even if it lives up the hype, is no different.