People will need to adapt to write code with artificial intelligence.
With advances in artificial intelligence, it is easier to start a career as an amateur software developer or retrain to become a software engineering. People with the right skills are often able to command higher salaries than national average.
According to data published by the
Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that the average UK worker earns PS724 per week, or about PS37,648 annually.
Through Labour’s plan for Change, the government is eager to grow the UK’s digital technology talent pool in order to provide the skills required to power the digital innovations and AI needed to transform public services. In the UK as in other parts of the world, employers are paying higher salaries for those with the right digital technology skills.
According to a study by IT training provider Tecnovy, which analyzed salary data from Robert Half and Glassdoor, the top 40 digital technology-related vacancies advertised currently have salaries ranging between over PS40,000 and almost PS124,000.
The demand for new tech jobs appears to be driven primarily by the need for senior IT managers: those with titles such as Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Chief Architect, and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), all of whom command six-figure salaries.
The study identified 25 lower-level job titles that people can expect to make at least PS50,000, and sometimes even more. These include IT manager roles, as well as various developer, cloud, and engineering roles.
Getting Started
The barrier to entry for people who are considering becoming software developers is decreasing.
Nathaniel Okenwa is a developer evangelist for Twilio. He said that programming languages have become more beginner-friendly. “Previously, you would have been thrown into the deep end of C ++,”,” he said.
C++ is a programming language that beginners find difficult to learn.
Okenwa stated that the pace of digital innovations offers school-leavers a “great opportunity” to enter the tech sector. He also said that people who have just received their A-level results or are choosing subjects for them should explore the AI and how they can use to “build the future”.
Writing AI code
OpenAI positions GPT-5 as its latest model that is well-suited for coding. Okenwa said, “We are entering an era of vibe coding’ where developers describe a solution and AI creates the code.” This makes software creation more accessible. While such tools can make writing code easier, he said that “human developers remain essential”.
Okenwa said, “AI is good at doing but not at understanding the context, empathy, or ethical implications.” “Human developers are the best at this.”
According to his experience, humans are still required to test, guide, and refine AI outputs. Okenwa believes that this will lead to the creation of many new jobs in order to support AI-based code generators.
Okenwa encourages those who want to pursue a career in the software development field to become experts.
As AI becomes more capable of programming, he recommends that software developers focus on learning how to build software on top the code generated by an AI code generator.
Okenwa suggested that they could also consider jobs involving building the guardrails AI must follow. “While the job title might change, I do not think that software developers will disappear,” he said. Okenwa says that instead, they will gain new abilities that will allow businesses to create new experiences.
Enterprise IT
Working in enterprise IT is a culture shock.
Okenwa said, “At universities, we don’t build apps that can scale up to millions and billions, so scalability is not always a priority.” “This is why you should get some experience, or at least be around those who have these experiences.”
These experiences are not something that can only be gained from working in large corporations. Many open-source project maintainers are eager for people to contribute code. This may give new software engineers an opportunity to dabble in coding, if they struggle to find a job. He said that people who work in the open-source community must also follow many of the same safeguards as enterprise software developers.
The data from the ONS study and Tecnovy show that software engineering is a highly sought-after skill, which can lead to people earning more than the national average. As AI code generation is integrated into the writing of code, it’s likely that the role of software development and engineering in enterprise IT will evolve.
GPT-5 is a good example of the direction AI will take for programming enterprise applications.
AI will continue to improve and software developers who want to remain relevant must understand the value that they can add to software development. As Okenwa explains, AI coders can’t replicate the unique qualities of humans, which will be crucial as organisations look to software developer teams to create more meaningful digital experiences.
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