By Amanda Kavanagh
Artificial intelligence may be touted as taking over large swathes of coding responsibilities, but a new report from QT and Forrester reveals that despite AI upskilling and advancements, nearly two-thirds (63%) of embedded code is still manually written.
But for how long? Numerous CEOs, CIOs and CTOs have already advised software engineers to upskill in AI, hinting that the technology could replace some or all of their coding work.
For example, during a recent internal Amazon Web Services (AWS) fireside chat, recordings were leaked of CEO Matt Garman reportedly saying, “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.”
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The audio explanation that follows states that such changes would not result in job losses for developers. Instead, it would include shifting of skill sets to what, in his opinion, would be more beneficial to the business.
Later on, an Amazon representative emphasized that Garman’s remarks do not indicate imminent layoffs or employment reductions, by saying: “Matt articulated a vision for how AWS will continue to remove undifferentiated heavy lifting from the developer experience so that builders can focus more of their skill and energy on the most innovative work.”
That won’t soothe developers’ worries – many are already refocusing on AI upskilling and becoming proficient in languages considered to be more AI-proof. Python, Java, JavaScript and SQL are all deemed easier than others for AI to emulate, while C++ and Rust are considered more challenging.
No matter how much AI proliferates, the truth is those who know in-demand languages and AI will be able to extract better results from artificial intelligence. Ultimately, AI coding still needs human direction and oversight.
Rusty business
Rust may be one of the more challenging languages for AI to emulate, but is also a relatively new language – it was first released to the public in 2009, after being developed as a personal project within Mozilla in 2006.
This means Rust does not currently have the same support environment as earlier programming languages. However, it is growing in popularity, so its ecosystem is expected to improve at pace.
In September’s TIOBE Index, Rust sat in 14th place– up from the 17th spot the previous year, and it is expected to break the top ten in the coming months.
Its rise is helped massively by Rust being named as one of the key languages named in a December 2023 report released by the National Security Agency and Central Security Service, which was co-authored by cybersecurity authorities in the U.S., Australia, Canada, UK, and New Zealand.
In the report, Rust is listed as a memory-safe language that is preferable to use, so businesses are now investigating using it as a C substitute, and following the lead of Discord, Microsoft, Amazon and Dropbox which are already utilizing it.
Because of its versatility, Rust is used to create low-level system components for a wide range of applications, including Internet of Things devices, operating systems, system utilities, device drivers, and game and VR simulation engines.
Interestingly, Rust is increasingly favored by financial companies, a sector that’s generally quite conservative when it comes to adopting new technologies, indicative of the language’s growing credibility in both performance and safety guarantees.
Not-too-shabby salaries
A recent survey of 342 salaries found that the average annual salary for a Rust developer in the United States is $156,000.
Although salaries for less-experienced developers start at $121,875, more seasoned Rustaceans make nearly $200,000 a year.
These figures from Rust-related job titles contrast favorably with broader software developer jobs. In the same survey, it was revealed that system engineers make $115,184 on average, software engineers command $123,594, and developers $112,502.
When it comes to location, Texas and New York provide Rust developers with the highest salaries, at $187,500, followed by Georgia ($175,00) and California ($150,000).
So while there’s certainly no guaranteed way to future-proof your tech career, learning Rust may be a shorter-term golden ticket to a better salary, as demand for the safety-rated languages increases.
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