Gartner Predicts 80% of Engineers Will Need AI Upskilling by 2027

Generative AI Will Force 80% of Tech Engineers to 'Upskill' -- Or Risk Falling Behind - Decrypt

Rapid advancements in Generative AI are set to dramatically alter the software engineering landscape, with Gartner forecasting that 80% of engineers globally will need to "upskill" during the next three years to remain relevant. Its report, released last week, says what most developers have figured out by now: Generative AI tools are revolutionizing software development, with modest productivity gains in the short term followed by a complete transformation into AI-native engineering practices. But all is not lost. Gartner insists human expertise and creativity will remain indispensable -- and marketable. "While AI will transform the future role of software engineers, human expertise and creativity will always be essential to delivering complex, innovative software," Philip Walsh, a senior analyst at Gartner, wrote in the report. "Building AI-empowered software will demand a new breed of software professional -- the AI engineer." In fact, the rise of AI will give birth to a whole set of new jobs around it, Gartner previously claimed in a separate report. Longtail effects of AI The US tech research and consulting firm breaks down the impact of AI into three phases. Initially, AI tools are expected to assist engineers in completing tasks more efficiently -- similar to how developers currently use ChatGPT and other AI assistants. These tools will be most beneficial to senior developers already familiar with advanced engineering practices. In the medium term, AI agents are expected to push these productivity gains further, automating a wider array of developer tasks, Gartner postulates. In this AI-native era, the primary role of human engineers will shift from making code to guiding AI agents, with Gartner envisioning prompt engineering turning into a critical skill alongside competence in retrieval-augmented generation. In the long term, Gartner sees the rise of the AI engineer as a new career for humans. "The AI engineer possesses a unique combination of skills in software engineering, data science, and AI/machine learning, skills that are sought after," Walsh said. That shift is already happening. Thousands of companies from around the globe are already opening positions for "prompt engineers" who pay a hefty $130,000 per position. Gartner's survey of 300 organizations in the U.S. and U.K. revealed more than half of industry leaders identified AI and machine learning engineers as the most in-demand role for 2024. Emad Mostaque, former CEO of Stability AI, predicted in July the end of human programmers within five years. He argues GitHub data shows 41% of all code is already AI-generated, and this figure is only expected to grow as AI spreads out, Decrypt previously reported. Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman shared a similar outlook back in August. "If you go forward 24 months from now, or some amount of time -- I can't exactly predict where it is -- it's possible that most developers are not coding," he said at the time. Garman, like the Gartner report, predicts that developers will shift their focus from coding to other areas of more creative problem-solving. "Coding is just kind of like the language that we talk to computers," Garman explains. "It's not necessarily the skill in and of itself. The skill in and of itself is like, how do I innovate?" This shift in the role of software engineers is part of a broader AI-driven transformation across industries. IBM projects that 40% of the global workforce will need reskilling in the next three years to adapt to AI's growing influence. The challenge for both engineers and companies will be staying ahead of these changes by investing in skills, tools, and platforms that embrace AI rather than resisting its influence. And some take a bleaker view of an AI-disrupted future. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently mused that the coming disruption will not only take our jobs but also our very purpose as productive beings. "I think the actual issue, the most likely issue, is how do we find meaning in a world where AI can do everything we can do, but better?" he said at the 2024 All-In Summit. On the bright side, Musk also envisions everyone having a "robot buddy," though he stopped short of detailing how everyone could afford to buy one if we're all out of a job.

80% of Engineers Could Lose Their Jobs if They Don't Upskill by 2027

Want to know why pursuing AI-based development techniques could help keep your job? Gartner says upskilling in AI Engineering is the key. Gartner, the research and advisory firm, said in its latest report that GenAI will spawn new roles in software engineering and operations through 2027, requiring 80% of the engineering workforce to upskill. The report analyses the impact of AI engineering on the daily functioning of software development organisations and notes that it significantly increases productivity by performing smaller tasks and helping senior developers in big organisations. Philip Walsh, senior principal analyst at the research firm, elaborated on the need for human intervention in the development of complex software. Looking further, AI could automate more tasks, thus changing the working environment for current developers. Most of the mid-level coding would be done by AI, and humans would need to be prompt in senior-level engineering and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). This technique combines the strengths of information retrieval and natural language generation (NLG). Looking at the long-term effect, AI will majorly integrate into the software industry, and AI engineering will play a pivotal role. "The AI engineer possesses a unique combination of skills in software engineering, data science and AI/machine learning (ML), skills that are sought after," says Walsh. AIM reported earlier that the job market for software engineers has been highly affected by tools like Cursor, ChatGPT, and Claude. Though generative AI tools have contributed to completely transforming the process followed by software engineers, human creativity and innovative expertise remain essential in providing necessary and original inputs. Zahiruddin Tavargere, the senior principal software engineer who started exploring AI Engineering in early 2023, expressed, "Today I can use data engineering techniques, build ML models, leverage GenAI, and use MLOps techniques to solve business problems and push the solutions to production." A user on Reddit who runs an AI engineering consultancy expressed that if he interviewed someone who demonstrated a few AI products where they could clearly think about the product and not just engineering, he'd hire them quickly. Though this point of view holds much water, developers still argue about the actual definition of upskilling and how much it contributes in reality. Another Reddit user, however, doubted that developers will need new skills. "Working with AI-generated code is essentially maintenance coding, which is taking someone else's codebase and fixing it," the person commented in a Reddit post. As AI Engineering becomes more common, companies will have to adopt more AI-friendly developer platforms, which will, in turn, help these organisations integrate AI more effectively on a large scale.

Gartner Says Generative AI will Require 80% of Engineering Workforce to Upskill Through 2027

Longer Term, Organizations Will Require AI Engineers to Build AI-Empowered Applications Through 2027, generative AI (GenAI) will spawn new roles in software engineering and operations, requiring 80% of the engineering workforce to upskill, according to Gartner, Inc. "Bold claims on the ability of AI have led to speculation that AI could reduce demand for human engineers or even supplant them entirely," said Philip Walsh, Sr Principal Analyst at Gartner. "While AI will transform the future role of software engineers, human expertise and creativity will always be essential to delivering complex, innovative software." Gartner analysts expect AI will impact the software engineering role in three ways: In the short term, AI will operate within boundaries AI tools will generate modest productivity increases by augmenting existing developer work patterns and tasks. The productivity benefits of AI will be most significant for senior developers in organizations with mature engineering practices. In the medium term, the emergence of AI agents will push boundaries AI agents will transform developer work patterns by enabling developers to fully automate and offload more tasks. This will mark the emergence of AI-native software engineering when most code will be AI-generated rather than human-authored. "In the AI-native era, software engineers will adopt an 'AI-first' mindset, where they primarily focus on steering AI agents toward the most relevant context and constraints for a given task," said Walsh. This will make natural-language prompt engineering and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) skills essential for software engineers. In the long term, advances in AI will break boundaries and will mark the rise of AI engineering While AI will make engineering more efficient, organizations will need even more skilled software engineers to meet the rapidly increasing demand for AI-empowered software. "Building AI-empowered software will demand a new breed of software professional, the AI engineer," said Walsh. "The AI engineer possesses a unique combination of skills in software engineering, data science and AI/machine learning (ML), skills that are sought after." According to a Gartner survey conducted in the fourth quarter of 2023 among 300 U.S. and U.K. organizations, 56% of software engineering leaders rated AI/machine learning (ML) engineer as the most in-demand role for 2024, and they rated applying AI/ML to applications as the biggest skills gap. To support AI engineers, organizations will need to invest in AI developer platforms. AI developer platforms will help organizations build AI capabilities more efficiently and integrate AI into enterprise solutions at scale. "This investment will require organizations to upskill data engineering and platform engineering teams to adopt tools and processes that drive continuous integration and development for AI artifacts," said Walsh. Gartner clients can read more in "AI Will Not Replace Software Engineers (and May, in Fact, Require More)." Learn more in the complimentary Gartner webinar "What Mature Organizations Do Differently for AI Success." About Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is the world's most important gathering for CIOs and other IT executives. IT executives rely on these conferences to learn how to amplify the impact of the technology, insights and trends shaping the future of IT and business. Follow news and updates from the conferences on X using #GartnerSYM and on the Gartner Newsroom. Upcoming dates and locations for Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo include: October 21-24 2024 | Orlando, FL October 28-30 2024 | Tokyo, Japan November 4-7 2024 | Barcelona, Spain November 11-13 2024 | Kochi, India About Gartner for Software Engineering Leaders Gartner for Software Engineering Leaders helps leaders align with stakeholders, retain and optimize teams and build innovative products that support and serve the entire organization, its partners and clients. Additional information is available at https://www.gartner.com/en/software-engineering. Follow news and updates from Gartner for Software Engineering Leaders on X and LinkedIn. Visit the Gartner Newsroom for more information and insights. About Gartner Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) delivers actionable, objective insight that drives smarter decisions and stronger performance on an organization's mission-critical priorities. To learn more, visit gartner.com.

Gartner Predicts 80% of Engineering Workforce Will Need to Upskill for Generative AI by 2027

Gartner analysts expect AI will impact the software engineering role in three ways: In the short term, AI will operate within boundaries In the medium term, the emergence of AI agents will push boundaries "In the AI-native era, software engineers will adopt an 'AI-first' mindset, where they primarily focus on steering AI agents toward the most relevant context and constraints for a given task," said Walsh. This will make natural-language prompt engineering and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) skills essential for software engineers.