[waynerad]

My answer is if you want to code as a hobby -- yes; if you want to code as a job -- no. The reason I say this isn't that corporations won't still need some people with coding skills even in a world where all or most code is generated by AI, it's that the number of jobs is such that there isn't room for new people to enter the industry. Many jobs are being lost and few new jobs are being created. A new person could focus their efforts on something else, such as an apprenticeship to become an electrician, which would be much more likely to pay off and much more lucrative. It looks like manual dexterity will be the hardest thing for AI to automate, so a job that combines human cognitive skill with manual dexterity, such as being an electrician, is probably a much smarter way to go than learning to code, if one's goal is making money. Do you all think I am out of line in saying this?

I'm inclined to agree with Casey Muratori who suggests we think of coding like playing guitar. Should you learn to play the guitar in 2026? Very few people can make a living playing guitar. It's not impossible -- even in the age of synthesized guitars and now AI generated music, there are still superstar rock stars who make a living playing guitar -- but it's a very small fraction of people who can play the guitar. If you want to make a living playing guitar, then you probably shouldn't learn it. On the other hand, if you want to play the guitar for its own sake, as a hobby, then yes, you should learn it.