Honestly, I think the role is definitely changing — not disappearing, but shifting. With tools like ChatGPT and Copilot, devs don’t have to write every line from scratch anymore. That speeds things up, sure, but it also means we’ll need to focus more on understanding the problem, structuring good prompts, and reviewing the output carefully — because let’s be real, AI can still be wrong or messy. I feel like debugging, system design, and knowing how to glue things together properly will matter more than memorizing syntax. It’s still early, though, and I’m figuring it out as I go too.
My day job company does some web apps, but mostly focuses on embedded systems. The CEO believes that AI tools will allow us to do projects faster and with less cost to the client. We will be factoring that into our estimates and quotes as we become more adept at using these tools.
I think tools like ChatGPT and Copilot are definitely shifting things. You’re still writing code, but it’s becoming more about problem-solving, planning, and knowing how to guide the AI. You still need a solid foundation, but it feels like the focus is leaning more toward logic and architecture over syntax. Curious to see where it goes from here.
I also don't see AI replacing web developers. I mean, they can for sure find a way to use AI to help them with some tasks, but it won't replace them.
I walked into a high end upscale fancy restaurant to meet a prospective customer wearing your AI Chatbot Model tinfoil hat. Everybody was staring at me and the client asked me what I had on my head with a big grin. When I told him what it was he laughed so hard that he had tears in his eyes. He then told me that he liked my sense of humor and awarded me the contract. I then realized that I had mistakingly put on your Success Model tinfoil hat on by mistake. All's well that ends well huh?
AI is definitely changing web development, but not replacing developers. It’s helping automate repetitive tasks, suggest solutions, and speed up workflows. Watching how AI teams like NoviCore build custom solutions shows how developers can focus more on creative and strategic work while AI handles routine stuff.
AI is certainly changing the landscape but.. .not everyone can communicate effectively with AI or use development tools. Just because AI can do amazing things quickly doesn't mean the human factor is gone. I have been pushing more heavily into AI and it's been amazing for my development lifecycle. However, at the end of the day it's just a tool to get something done. You still need a good driver to get proper results.
So yesterday my husband passed me a pdf of the contract our company had been using with new customers and it was a hot mess. I don't work with pdfs so I had to download a trial of nitro pdf and then adobe acrobat to try to tidy it up. There were duplicate fields instead of using fill to get around fields being transparent when they were being edited, they were all different heights and widths and text boxes weren't marked as multiline. After about 4 hours I gave up. Both software packages were crashing constantly and eventually Adobe just said "fuck it" and corrupted every single thing in the file. I woke up this morning and fed the original into chatgpt, told it to dedupe, fix the fill and borders and it gave me back a pdf that required only a few changes (that I hadn't asked for) that I did in minutes. It's still a bit of a hot mess, visually, but it's a million times better than it was. Moral of the story - use all the tools available before you quit. The old ways aren't necessarily the best way.
Grok would definitely polish your pdf file for you. I don't understand the criticism Grok faces on some platforms. Even its basic, free version delivers impressive results for coding and graphics. I was being sarcastic when I said, 'Web who?' but there's some truth to it. I guarantee that if you think you're an exceptional coder with flawless code, submit it to Grok and ask for improvements - you'll be blown away at all the fixes it will do for you. Feeling butt-hurt is what stops some developers from embracing these tools.
I’d say AI is definitely changing the approach to work, but it’s not taking jobs away. With tools like Copilot or ChatGPT, you can write routine code faster and generate templates, but creative thinking, project architecture, and solving unique problems still belong to humans. AI is more of an assistant that saves time and handles repetitive tasks rather than replacing developers.
I thing guiding the AI is the problem for most people. Some times it's easy to think what you want but putting it in words for AI to use don't always work.