Being a software developer is not easy. While developers are – rightly – increasingly seen as innovators, their new status also brings a new set of challenges.
Developers are not only expected to keep up with technologies that are developing at a rapid pace, but they also have to deal with companies’ ever-increasing demand for their services as they form the basis for business innovation. Add to that consumers’ sky-high expectations for seamless digital experiences at all times, and developers are facing a perfect storm of pressure.
At the heart of the challenge is the fact that many daily development tasks are also becoming increasingly complex and difficult to perform. Gone are the days of writing in one programming language and shipping physical products to a prearranged deadline. Modern developers are now typically required to build microservices in a range of different languages simultaneously, delivering 24×7 services that are expected to be instantly secure, resilient, reliable, scalable, and have no downtime.
This is further exacerbated by the well-documented global developer shortage, which has no clear end in sight. In the UK alone, recent research shows that almost 70% of digital business leaders now feel they are being held back by the ongoing talent shortage.
The status quo must be broken. Companies can’t continue to bootstrap their existing developers and expect them to work faster and harder. Doing so simply encourages a race to the bottom that serves no one.
Instead, it is essential that they prioritize the developer experience, giving them the best possible conditions to work effectively.
Senior Manager Developer Advocacy at GitHub.
Preparing developers for success
To enable developers to do their best work, they must get the organizational support (and technology) they need to balance the workload and focus efforts on the areas where they are needed most.
AI can restore that balance and at the same time give companies an innovation advantage. The democratization of generative AI signals a sea change in software development that will dramatically improve the working conditions – and well-being – of developers by accelerating developer productivity.
The advent of AI-powered software development allows developers to focus less on the ‘boring’ repetitive parts of development. Research shows that AI programming tools, which present code and full functions in real time, can help developers code up to 55% faster, meaning they can spend more time on bigger, more challenging business problems.
The same study found that most developers reported feeling more fulfilled in their work and less frustrated when they used AI-powered tools to help them. Ultimately, software engineers don’t choose development just to write endless lines of code. They choose to help solve real-world problems and make a real impact on the people around them. AI helps them do more of that by giving them the time and space they need to be effective and focus on their passions. Companies will only benefit from it.
AI-powered software development can also help developers stay in the flow when solving problems, rather than having to constantly dip in and out to research specific problems and how to solve them. Because AI can act as a personal assistant for the specific task at hand, it can steer the developer in the right direction without throwing him or her out of flow and blocking productivity.
Finally, AI can be used to help developers better understand customer requirements by explaining the context of their requests and why this may be important from a software design perspective. This promotes communication and helps both parties find suitable solutions more quickly.
The impact of AI on the development process will be nothing short of transformational. Not only can developers focus on more rewarding work instead of constantly spending time researching and finding details on how to write the code, but their job satisfaction increases and the work they do will also reduce the time to accelerate value significantly. The pace of innovation inevitably increases and companies can move from a no-win situation to an everyone-win situation. Who wouldn’t want that?
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