Will Software Development be automated?

A recent estimate suggests that approximately 50% of jobs could be automated using recent technologies by 2030.

Considering this point, Have you ever thought that programmers and software developers would be automated by AI?

No doubt that robots and machines have evolved and have been replacing jobs across all industries from manufacturing to services. Such as it can write songs, drive cars, play video games, have a grocery store, and help to treat patients.

Who are we? Softvira is the leading US-based software development company with years & years of experience and has delivered more than 400 successful projects.

We experienced several enhancements in the development process up till now, and now I think it is the right time to figure out the answer to the most overarching question.

Role of Automation in Software Development Process:

Mario Peshev, the CEO of DevriX and a digital consultant, on the Forbes website, says: “A certain portion of the software development industry will become automated and obsolete to some extent”.

Well, automation has already paved its path in software development to provide a seamless user experience.

The software development process is quite time-consuming, boring, and costly. Every part of software requires multiple rounds of testing and enhancement before it is published. Which can be intimidating for humans.

Developers needed some help. That’s why technological advancements have kicked in and the demand for flawless application software has risen worldwide.

To look more specifically into automation in software development, let’s list some of the automation used today in the industry:

Build Processes
Static code analysis
Unit testing
Documentation
Continuous integration
Production efforts
Auto Scaling
Automatic fail errors
Performance testing
Automated deployments

It’s much longer than I was expecting.

This made me realize why would anyone waste their time and energy on repetitive tedious tasks when they can be done within a click through this automation.

Meaning the developer who used to build software deployable manually by copying files when it is automated by deployment tools or the developers who put day and night working with multiple team members to make sure everything is on line which now can be done by a single system.

At this point, we’re pretty sure that automation and development so far have been a good thing. However, past behavior isn’t always a good predictor of the future.

So let’s consider the second category, likely the most recent or near-future automation in software development because I think that future automation would have some effect on the development process:

Predictive Coding( e.g Github Copilot)
No coding (e.g Backendless)
A/B Testing
Cloud Computing
High-level Frameworks

After listing the above automation, I realized that there are a couple of areas that were alarming, one of which was the emergence of predictive coding technologies.

1. Predictive Coding(GitHub Copilot):

Github copilot is the state-of-the-art AI technology from the open AI that provides suggestions to you when you write code. These suggestions can vary from words to lines of codes or the entire functions over multiple lines.

But it’s a step on from the IDE autocomplete because it suggests entire methods based on the method name. You have to pay detailed attention to the code it generates as it won’t always be correct or might not even acquiesce.

Considering the development process is surrounded by so much more than actual coding including, planning, requirement gathering, and architecture. It is clear that it has to be something much bigger to affect the software development process.

This is why I was more concerned when I got to know about NO CODE services.

2. No Code Services (Backendless):

No Code services is a group of services that helps you to develop applications without using NO CODE.

One in particular that interested me is Backendless.

It lets you develop the front end and back end of an application using a drag-and-drop user interface and all the web API calls or the mobile apps would automatically be sent to the server hosted on the Backendless.

But for these applications, a developer must have some technical knowledge at first to use applications like these, because if these kinds of tools are pulled off in the future there might be a completely different category of job that will be computing these applications.

Will Software Development be automated by AI?

Getting back to the question.

Software developers and programmers around the globe can now calm oneselves. The answer to this question is Not necessarily.

I know that you’d be thinking, HOW?

Don’t worry I got you on this.

Over time, multiple repetitive tasks within software development have been automated away.

But eventually, the software development industry is itself fast-evolving and has become more productive with the team able to build and release production new features almost every day rather than every year.

Although we have so many AI tools such as Squarespace, WIX, or different applications where we can drag and drop the static website. But it does not include everything required in a whole software development process or web app.

There are still some things in development that a machine can’t handle itself such as only a programmer can write a code based on certain requirements and specifications and determine what problems software in development could address.

Or instead of writing code themselves, coders have to look for dark areas that appear and keep the focus on the training data an AI tool uses to write the code.

Even if the AI tools can be used for the collaboration with humans for the development, it will require time before they could learn to understand the business value of each feature and advise for the next step.

Software development is always a creative endeavor with an anonymous end goal and it can’t be automated.

To conclude:

Out there, there are thousands of reasons that can prove that software development would never get obsolete.

It is a totally complex process. The process of crafting a code from scratch includes several elements that need to emerge together effortlessly to create a functional product.

Despite the fact that AI has been ample and comprehensive, technology itself isn’t enough to replace humans and it doesn’t seem like it would be.

As technology is evolving and assisting us in our daily lives, you will need people who can design and implement them.

Even if we consider that automation is controlling 90% of the world’s activities, you still need multiple software developers who can support, combine and enlarge these solutions.

Rather than involving yourself in the situation of machines taking over developers, try to stick to the experienced and professional human developers and programmers, who know the inventiveness to deliver the software according to the user requirements.