80% of developers need to upgrade their skills by 2027

Generative AI will place new demands on developers in the coming years, according to a recent report by research firm Gartner, which found in a survey of 300 organizations in the US and UK late last year that 56% viewed developers with skills in AI and machine learning as the most in-demand role in 2024. The survey also uncovered that the largest skills gap these orgs faced was in applying AI/ML for applications.

To bridge this divide, 80% of developers will need to upgrade their skills by 2027, Gartner claims.

The technology is already impacting organizational outlooks for developer teams, putting junior developers at risk of being phased out, even as initial AI coding copilots show mixed results on improving developer productivity, if at all.

The research firms sees three ways AI will affect software developers going forward. In the short term, AI tools will generate modest productivity gains by complementing existing developer work patterns and tasks. Those productivity benefits, the firm suggests, will primarily affect senior developers in organizations with mature technology methods.

In the medium term, however, AI agents will have a more tangible impact on work patterns by automating and offloading more development tasks. At this point, so-called AI-native software engineering, when most code will be AI-generated rather than written by humans, will begin to take over in more and more app dev orgs. 

In the long term, Gartner sees AI making development work more efficient, but organizations will also need even more skilled developers to meet the rapidly increasing demand for AI-powered software.

“Bold claims on the ability of AI have led to speculation that AI could reduce demand for human engineers or even supplant them entirely. While AI will transform the future role of software engineers, human expertise and creativity will always be essential to delivering complex, innovative software,” said Philip Walsh, senior principal analyst at Gartner in a statement.

Still, with AI-native software engineering on the horizon, that expertise and creativity will also need to be applied to developers’ own skill sets and career choices, the firm suggests, to remain relevant long term.