Analyze my job

Will AI Replace Software Engineers?

More exposed than most occupations, ranked 120 of 785. Employment is projected to grow +10.2% by 2035, from 1.7 million jobs today.

black flat screen computer monitor
Photo by @radowanrehan on Unsplash

Where this job sits against every other

Least exposed785 occupationsMost exposed
#120 of 785 occupations, ordered by AI exposure

Each column is a slice of the 785 occupations Microsoft measured for how much of their work today's AI can do. Software engineers sit in the blue column.

So the two measures point in opposite directions. AI reaches a lot of this work, and the projection still has the occupation growing. Exposure is not the same thing as replacement.

What the job is made of

The biggest single piece of this job is “Evaluate designs, specifications, or other technical data”, at 12.5% of the work. The column on the right is a different measure entirely: out of every time someone asked AI to do that activity, how often it actually got it right. It counts attempts people made, so a high number does not mean the work has moved to AI. It means AI is capable of that task when asked.

Share of the jobAI success rate
Evaluate designs, specifications, or other technical data
12.5%
88% of attempts
Supervise personnel activities
8.3%
75% of attempts
Advise others on the design or use of technologies
8.3%
91% of attempts
Direct scientific or technical activities
8.3%
89% of attempts
Communicate with others about specifications or project details
8.3%
78% of attempts
Design computer or information systems or applications
8.3%
86% of attempts

17 activities make up this occupation in the government's classification. The six here are the ones that define it most.

AI is weakest at “Supervise personnel activities”, which is 8.3% of this job. Asked to do it, it finishes correctly 75% of the time. The work it handles well sits above 90%.

The numbers behind it

1.7 millionpeople doing this work
+10.2%projected change by 2035
$135,980median pay, US

Employment and pay are United States figures, the only country publishing this per occupation. The work activities and the AI measurements are not country specific.

There are about 95,000 openings a year here, counting people who retire or move on as well as new positions.

This page is about the occupation. Your job is more specific than that.

The calculator reads your actual role and the tasks you do. It takes about a minute.

Analyze my job

Other jobs people ask about

Doctors#334Accountants#255Programmers#81Lawyers#286
Sources