The Software Jobs Aren't Gone, They Have Only Moved

If you are graduating with a Computer Science degree and didn’t land an internship or a job this year, you are not alone. More importantly, you are not out of options. The future certainly seems bleak: job boards are quiet, and junior developer roles, at big and small companies, have vanished. The constant talks about AI replacing programmers isn’t helping. However, there is a different perspective to this. AI is not killing software development. It is just changing where the work is, and who gets to do it.

What AI Really Changed

Up until 2021 (day zero of ChatGPT!), writing software meant hours of setting up environments, copying boilerplate, debugging configuration files, and grinding through documentation. These tasks are still being done, but the majority of them can now be handled by AI.

Tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursors, and ChatGPT generate useful code snippets, spin up templates, and scaffold entire projects. Microsoft recently shared that over 30% code checked in by developers using Copilot is now AI-generated. This is why junior developer roles are harder to come by. The “easy” part of the job, which also happens to be what companies used to train junior developers on, is now partially automated. What remains are the hard problems that require senior developers with experience: system design, debugging machine-generated code, integrating complex features, and securing applications.

However, this doesn’t mean the need for developers is shrinking. The fact is that the demand for software is growing, and AI is only accelerating that trend.

Where Did the Jobs Go?

They have left the walled gardens of big tech and spilled into the rest of the world. We are entering the age of AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things). It is not just about connecting sensors to the Internet, it is about embedding smart behavior into everything: storefronts that greet customers with personalized messages, in-store cameras that track inventory, chatbots that schedule appointments, even systems that help your local corner stores forecast sales or detect fraud. These tools used to be exclusive products of companies with big engineering teams. Now, with AI tools and a good grasp of CS fundamentals, you can build them yourself and deploy them locally. Earlier this year, I still remember visiting a small shop owned by two elderly ladies selling rice cake for breakfast in Vietnam. The shop is small and dark and feels like the 80s, and yet it boasts an automated payment system with voice activation so that the owners don’t have to touch the cash but still can confirm that everyone pays the correct amount!

This is the moment for developers to go indie again. Not exactly in the sense of building the next startup unicorn (but don’t rule that out!), but in helping people around you. Build something for your family’s business. Automate processes for a local nonprofit. Offer your skills to a bakery, a hardware store, a tutoring center.

The tech jobs didn’t disappear. They migrated from corporate campuses to community main streets.

What you can do now

If you are feeling left behind, try shifting your direction instead of stopping. You are not late. You are early. The pain you feel is not because you missed the wave, but it is because you are among the first to build on this new one.

Don’t give up on Computer Science and more importantly, don’t give up on yourself. The jobs are still out there, they just don’t look like the ones from the era of your professors or mentors. You are not just surviving a tech disruption. You are pioneering a new one!