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[00:00:00] Igor Benić
Hello everyone, this is another solo episode by Igor. And in this episode, I want to talk about AI and the future for us as developers. So from the start of the pandemic until now, I witnessed a few hyped technologies. That is Web3, NFTs and the AI. Well, Web3 is an interesting concept and it could provide a better and more transparent way of operating a network, community, site or even business. Technology should lead to accountability, which as a consequence of course would make the web a more secure place to be in. But unfortunately, Web3 was associated, at least for those not too much invested in such technology, only with cryptocurrencies. And what were cryptocurrencies being used for? To get rich! I mean, I really love the idea of using them as a currency for participating in the development of platforms and all this stuff. But honestly, I was also looking at how much money I would have if only I invested $1000 into Ether back in 2013 when I was actually looking into it. But unfortunately for me, I didn't have any money back then and I just started working as a web developer.

[00:01:55] Igor Benić
Then the NFTs came and it was considered a form of art. It was an art based on the whole cryptocurrency scheme to again get rich. NFTs as Web3 had a good idea behind it, a way to own digital art where blockchain technology acts as an ownership document. But what happened to it? Multiple marketplaces? A similar type of art where every character could change in the outfit and have different accessories through basically a simple for loop written in Python or similar. Well all for the sake of quickly making some money. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of NFTs and Web3. I hope some of it will stay and even take off in the future so we have more accountability and safety. What I am trying to point out here is how we as humans deal with such technology. We are not all the same thankfully, but the pattern is there. A new shiny thing is there, a massive amount of people are interested in it and then some people who act fast will earn a nice sum of money. And what about the others? Well essentially they are left out with some art or crypto that does not have any value anymore. It might be their own fault right? But can you blame them? While I was using TikTok I was constantly bombarded with new to the moon cryptocurrencies and even I considered buying some, telling myself maybe in wasting 10 dollars or 100 is not much, but if the cryptocurrency, if that token gets to 1 dollar per token I'll be making 7 figures. Of course I didn't buy anything, but it was a close one sometimes. Even if it gets to 7 figures I thought, who would actually pay it out? So after some period of time, let's get to the next thing. And why? Well, why do I think that? Both Web3 and NFT topics are not as common anymore as they were a year ago or 2 years ago. They are still there, but now probably they are being worked on by people who actually care about the technology and don't just see it as a money making tech.

[00:04:50] Igor Benić
Well, if you are keeping up with the whole indie hacking community and with the people who are trying to build in public, you can notice the same pattern here. People are acting fast and shipping new tools on top of AI. But to be honest, this time it does not feel the same. It does feel a bit different. And people from outside of IT are starting to use it and feel the power of it. They see the possibilities of AI. Well, my concern is that as with NFTs and crypto, this might be also used to scam people. Maybe you got some emails. I got, I certainly got a few where a prince from a country, let's say a Nigerian prince, has left millions and millions of dollars to me. And now with AI, they won't email you anymore. They'll call you. They'll send you a video specifically made for you. And you'll be able to speak to them and not notice they are an AI generated voice and even an image or video. But let's not get into that. I believe that those that don't reply to such emails won't get scammed by such as well. But those others, well, unfortunately, they might.

[00:06:34] Igor Benić
So, it's fair to think, with all the indie hacking around the AI, to think that we as developers are we shooting ourselves in the leg. I think the biggest concern is that developers have these days regarding AI is that they might be left out, they might lose jobs and that AI will do the work instead of them. Well especially when using chat GPT or GPT API, I actually have yet to try the GPT 4 but even the 3.5 is powerful enough to get an idea of where this is going and kind of get the developers and their peers. So by using it and helping AI with machine learning to correct its own code, are we making ourselves a disservice? Well for me it's kind of a grey area, I don't have a strict opinion on it. I mean if you view it as a code assistant it makes sense to train it even more because we will be faster producing code and even will be more productive. But if I view it as a tool that clients may use to do the job instead of us, it doesn't make sense to train it, right? So for now my opinion is that since it's already there, you should use it. Others will use it regardless of your stance and opinion and the AI eventually will be trained. So why not help yourself and have a code companion that practically doesn't cost you anything?

[00:08:32] Igor Benić
But another question arises. So will clients or agencies fire developers because of AI? Well with the rise of no-code tools, people are having more and more options to build sites and similar stuff for themselves. But I'm not sure if you noticed, but I certainly did, when there is a need for a specific feature, a more complex layout, an expansion of their business, the client will call developers to help them. How many times did you get a client telling you, I need a website and that's it? Or some version of it, right? Well some advanced clients might describe to you what they need, even maybe make an initial scope of the project, but what happens after that? What happens when you even get a scoped project or just a client that quote-unquote needs a website? Well we developers, we start asking important questions that clients might not even think about. Clients don't hire us just to get something out there. They hire us for our expertise and experience in handling similar solutions and situations. Yes, I definitely think AI can be trained on millions of lines of code, but for now critical parts, the edge cases, can only be done and thought about by humans. Of course, since I've yet to try the GPT-4, if you access to it and if you can try it out, please do let me know if such AI could warn you about potential edge cases and such or particular business logic. And the same goes with agencies. They'll need us to do the job for their clients. It's the same thing. The only different part with the agencies that might change and maybe somewhere it started to change, is that the size of the team might be reduced. So those developers that have their productivity increased due to AI will stay there. Developers might become 20 to 30% more efficient, maybe even more, and thus on a team of 10 developers, 2 to 3 might get fired. But do know, and I certainly believe that, that clients and agencies won't fire developers they trust. But can they trust AI for now? That's the real question.

[00:11:52] Igor Benić
Well, do you know who I can trust? I can trust a static site, and I'm sure such site won't have security issues because of a lousy backend code. And that brings me to today's sponsor of this episode, and that is SimpliStatic. SimpliStatic is a WordPress plugin that creates static sites of your WordPress site. Static sites are more secure and you keep data on your WordPress site safe from curious hackers, and the free version is enough for any site, big or small, while the premium one is perfect for those that need forms, search, comments, and deployment features. Of course, disclaimer, I also do contribute to that plugin. You should check it out at simplistatic.com. And now, back to the episode.

[00:13:04] Igor Benić
So, the real question is, can we actually trust the code that comes from AI? This is another thing that I have talked about, and I think about it from time to time. Because I've seen people crazy about the code that ChessGPT has given them, and when I say crazy I mean it in a good way, right? They're excited. Even the product team I am a part of for a company, they share the code that their developer teams have got from the ChessGPT. They were excited about how it refactored the code and how it reduced the lines of code. And that's all fine, but can it be trusted 100%? For me, it's similar to Stack Overflow, right? The code you copied can work, but it can also break your site. And at least with Stack Overflow, we have the benefit where there is a community of people discussing it. So people might already warn about the code that could break your site, and answers can be upvoted and downvoted, so you have a sense of what might work, at least. What about AI? Well, it's a machine, right? It won't have errors in the code, for sure. Well, in my experience, it's far from perfect, or even good code. Even with a detailed prompt, it won't deliver what I need. But again, I might have requested something that is currently too complex for it. My concern here is that people will blindly trust it because it's a machine. It's AI, so the code must be good. And that's the real concern. When I started learning web development, even copying from a tutorial, I couldn't get a jQuery accordion right from the first time. I didn't understand the code. So just copying, in many cases, produced only bugs, or didn't do anything. Nowadays, I believe that people that are starting out will use JetGPT to help them learn to code. And this will lead to more blind trust in such code. Until you understand the basics of code, I wouldn't recommend using JetGPT. Why? Well, even a simple prompt might produce a faulty code, and if you don't know it, you won't learn a thing from it. AI, and that is JetGPT, will explain what goes on in the code, but that code still might have bugs, and might be faulty, and maybe even not usable at all. So AI code can be trusted once you know what's going on. But then, of course, do you need AI at all? Well, my suggestion is, use AI to make you a faster developer, but not to make you a winner.

[00:16:58] Igor Benić
Another thing that we as developers need to think about and where we have a leverage on it is that AI doesn't have soft skills. It might be able to code a simple site or a small feature, but it won't have soft skills. It can mimic maybe some, like being polite, but not much, right? So that's the reason why soft skills are now even more important for you to distinguish yourself from others. And what are soft skills? Well, there is a lot of them. And for me, skills that help me be a better developer are critical thinking, problem solving, finding solutions, being able to deal with stressful environment, being able to explain solutions or issues easily, even to non-developer people, so they comprehend what's going on. You can also maybe be a team leader, so managing people is a nice skill to have, and also being a team player. I mean, we can be in the hackers, we can work on solo products, but eventually, maybe when freelancing or something, you will work with the team. So being a team player is of importance here. And there are a lot of more soft skills, but you get now the idea of what you also should focus on to improve. If you're not good at communication with others, definitely work on that, because it's an important skill. In the end, soft skills make you someone to enjoy working with, and that gets you hired.

[00:19:00] Igor Benić
So, in the end, what does our future look like as developers? Well, I think so that our future will be a bright one. If we as developers start focusing on AI as an assistant and as a tool to improve our lives, the future definitely should be bright. AI will create more jobs and more people will start working on their own businesses, and which will make us developers an important asset to have. Learn how to use it now so that you already have experience with AI that the client will look for. Why? Well, you will be able to offer advices to clients on how to make better prompts, and then they'll just hire you so you can do it for them. I mean that same as with tutorials today. I've written a lot of WordPress tutorials on specific topics, and people still hire me for that part, especially after reading my tutorial, because they view me as an expert. Embrace the future and enjoy being at the beginning of the history of AI being integrated in businesses. And also, don't forget to add prompt engineer as a skill in your resume.

[00:20:42] Igor Benić
So, what are your thoughts on the AI and our future as developers? You're welcome to send DMs about it on my Twitter at igorbenic. Have a great day and I hope you stay listening to future episodes. Bye.