I'm 16 and chose to attend a technical school where I've been studying programming for about a year. I enjoy it and think it's fun, but I'm still a beginner and don't feel especially confident about pursuing programming as a career. With AI changing software development, I'm worried there may not be many programming jobs by the time I graduate. Should I keep learning programming languages and finish my studies, or would it be smarter to choose a different direction?
3 Answers
Don’t compare programming with an unspecified ‘something else.’ Think about the specific alternatives you’re actually interested in and compare their advantages, disadvantages, and job prospects. Programming can be a rewarding career because it can pay well and offers interesting challenges, but AI may change the number and type of jobs available in the future. No one can predict that perfectly, and there will likely still be people needed to understand systems, solve difficult problems, and work with AI tools.
If you enjoy programming, that’s a good enough reason to keep exploring it for now. You don’t need to already be skilled after only a year, and you have plenty of time to improve. AI is a tool that will change how developers work, but it doesn’t make learning programming useless. Strong developers still need to understand problems, design solutions, check AI-generated code, and communicate with people.
I’m less certain that AI will leave programming completely untouched. It could reduce the number of entry-level jobs, so it’s worth developing broader skills instead of relying only on basic coding.
The technology used in software development has always changed. IDEs, build systems, testing, deployment pipelines, and now AI tools have all changed what programmers do. Instead of trying to learn one language and expecting it to stay valuable forever, focus on fundamentals: problem-solving, debugging, data structures, communication, and building real projects. Those skills can help you adapt as the tools change.
I do enjoy it, even though I’m not very good yet. I’m still a beginner, so I guess I should give myself more time to improve.