Is AI stealing my job?

TL;DR; No.

Let me say it clearly, and let me say it loudly: AI is not going to replace software engineers.

Let that sink in.

Now, understand this: our job is changing. The way we write code is evolving. What’s happening right now is a true singularity event. Anyone who denies this will be left behind.

If you think about it, the act of creating software can be divided into three main parts:

Ideation
Execution
Assessment

Let’s go through them one by one.

Ideation

This, to me, is the most fundamental—and the most fun—part. It’s where dragons lie. It’s the realm of architects and designers. This is where you (or your customers) come up with an idea and begin shaping its architecture, the underlying algorithms, and all the moving parts.

Execution

Next comes Execution. It’s quite literally a byproduct of the Ideation phase—you can’t execute without a plan. This is where ideas take shape in code. It’s about translating architecture into implementation, turning abstract concepts into working systems.

Assessment

Last, but definitely not least, we have Assessment. This is where you test what you’ve built, check for errors, and make sure you’ve met your definition of done.

Then what? You rinse and repeat.

You’ll notice this pattern—Ideation → Execution → Assessment—repeats at every level, across every stage, with varying degrees of depth.

Now, let’s circle back to the original question: Is AI going to steal our jobs?

Think about it—what do we use coding assistants for right now?

Execution.

We need humans to come up with ideas.
We need humans to define the architecture.
We need humans to write the specs.
We need humans to check the output and ensure the application works as intended.

Now, replace humans with software engineers in most of those steps—if not all, depending on what you’re building.

Am I 100% sure of everything I just said? No. I believe the full shift isn’t happening now, and it will take several years before we reach that point. But even then, we’ll simply have a new definition of what it means to be a software engineer.

Imagine you had a time machine and traveled back to, say, 1979. You bring your laptop and show Visual Studio to a programmer from that era. I bet some of them would quit their jobs and open a bakery. They’d look at tools like IntelliSense, JIT, and Garbage Collection and think, “Well, I’m obsolete.”

Now ask yourself:
Aren’t you taking those tools for granted today?
Do you still feel like quitting your job?