I think the nuance is that AI isn't replacing developers, I feel it's changing what "developer" means. I started coding 8 months ago with zero experience and shipped a production app with payments, background jobs, voice cloning, and audio processing. That would have been impossible without AI assistance. But I'm still the one making architectural decisions, debugging production issues at 2am, and figuring out what to build in the first place.
If anything, AI tools are creating more developers, not fewer. People like me who previously couldn't clear the skill floor are now building real things. That probably increases demand for experienced SWEs who can guide, review, and architect = which is exactly who Anthropic is hiring.
The "AI will replace developers" narrative sells better than "AI will lower the barrier to entry and create a much larger pool of builders, some of whom will need senior engineers to help them scale." But the second one seems closer to reality.
kylem866•1h ago
It feels like every month a quote from Anthropic goes viral about how SWEs won't exist in the future due to AI.
I wanted to see if Anthropic is actually hiring less as a result of AI. So, I compiled a dataset of their monthly SWE job openings juxtaposed with quotes from execs about AI replacement.
The results are clear: Anthropic is claiming that SWE jobs will go away, while simultaneously hiring more SWEs than ever. Since Jan '25 their open SWE roles are up 170% and the curve is accelerating.
It's important to remember that AI companies have an incentive to claim that their tech will automate away jobs because that's what their customers/investors want to hear.