Will GenAI Kill Coding Jobs or Create More?
Your B.Tech Degree Is Lying to You!
Here’s a controversial truth that no one in your college placement office will tell you: The traditional coding career you’ve been chasing since your first year of engineering is on a fast track to becoming obsolete. The era of getting a safe, high-paying job just for being a decent coder is over.
It’s time to stop worrying about AI stealing your job. That’s the wrong fear. The real danger is far more subtle, and it's already here. The real danger is becoming a "legacy professional"—someone with skills that are no longer valuable enough to earn a premium, stuck in a low-growth role while your peers skyrocket past you.
Don't believe me? Let's talk about the numbers no one wants to show you.
The Great Deflation: What's Really Happening?
For decades, India’s tech industry thrived on a simple model: low-cost, high-volume manpower. We were the world's go-to "body shop" and it worked. But Generative AI is changing the game overnight.
Imagine this: a tool like GitHub Copilot can now write nearly half of a developer’s code. For a Java developer, that number jumps to 61%. GenAI automates the tedious, repetitive work you’ve been dreading since your first "Hello, World!"—things like writing boilerplate code, generating unit tests, and debugging.
The consequence? Indian IT firms are seeing a dramatic productivity boost, with a report from EY India projecting a 43-45% increase for the industry. This isn't just about speed; it's about a shift in the business model. Clients are no longer paying based on billable hours or headcount; they're paying for outcomes and efficiency. This puts immense pressure on the traditional "IT pyramid" where freshers and mid-level professionals once found their footing.
The most vulnerable group? Mid-level pros with four to twelve years of experience. They're more expensive than fresh graduates but perform many of the same tasks that are now being commoditized by AI. This is what we call the "mid-level squeeze."
The New Gold Rush: Don't Hunt for a Job, Hunt for a Problem
So, what's the solution? You stop chasing the old jobs and start training for the new ones. Because while GenAI is making legacy roles redundant, it’s also creating a massive, unprecedented opportunity.
There is a severe talent crisis in India's new tech landscape. According to a report from TeamLease, for every 10 open GenAI roles, there is only one qualified engineer available. Yes, you read that right. The demand-supply gap is projected to reach 53% by 2026.
This is your chance. The market is practically begging for a new kind of professional: the AI-augmented engineer. Your job won't be to simply write code, but to solve complex problems, design systems, and innovate. You'll treat AI as both a raw material to build with and an intelligent tool that works alongside you.
Want to know what the new "hot jobs" are? Forget what your relatives told you. The fastest-growing roles are those that are deeply intertwined with data and AI :
The salary figures are a wake-up call. While salaries for roles like IT support and legacy systems maintenance are stagnating at around ₹12 LPA, senior GenAI Engineering and MLOps roles in India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are fetching up to ₹58-60 LPA. The path to a six-figure salary isn’t through a traditional service firm anymore; it’s through mastering these new, high-value skills.
The Wake-Up Call: Zomato, Myntra, and Your Future
This isn't just some tech blogger's theory. Major Indian companies are already on this path. Zomato has its "foodie companion" chatbot, Myntra has its MyFashionGPT shopping assistant, and Paytm has used GenAI to streamline its workforce. These aren't just cool gadgets; they're new products built on a new set of skills.
The IT industry's historical record shows that it has always adapted to new technologies, from the ERP wave in 2005 to the Cloud wave in 2017. But this time, the disruption is happening faster and more unpredictably.
You have a choice to make. You can stay in the old world, fearing a technology that's already automating your future. Or you can reskill, become fluent in AI, and put yourself in a position to not just survive but to thrive.
So, what are you going to do? Are you going to be the engineer who gets left behind, or the one who builds the future?
