AI and globalisation are shaking up software developers’ world

TWO big shifts are under way in the world of software development. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, bosses have been falling over themselves to try to find ways to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) productively. Most efforts have so far yielded little, but one exception is software programming. Surveys suggest that developers around the world find generative AI so useful that already about two-fifths of them use it.

The profession is changing in another way, too. A growing share of the world’s engineers come from emerging markets. There is no standard definition of a developer; but, around 2020, the number of users of GitHub, a popular platform for storing and sharing code, living in poorer countries surpassed those from the rich world. On the same measure, in the next few years, India is expected to overtake America to become the world’s biggest pool of programming talent.

These shifts matter because software talent is treasured. Salaries are high. The median wage of a developer in America sits in the top 5 per cent of all occupations, meaning that coders earn more than nuclear engineers. Tech giants need them to make their platforms more attractive; non-tech company bosses want ever more coders to aid the digitisation efforts that, they hope, will improve productivity and appeal to consumers. The two shifts are therefore welcome news. The future looks to be one with more, and more productive, coders – and cheaper software.