Over the past few months, ChatGPT and AI on the whole have shown their remarkable influence on World Technology. Its popularity spread all over social media, and along with enthusiasm, there has been a lot of scepticism. People have been debating on the dangers, one being that Front-end developers will get replaced by ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an advanced AI language model which is trained on a wide range of texts from the internet and books. It is capable of performing various natural language tasks from text generation, and translation to coding. It is natural to feel impressed and overwhelmed by its capabilities.
Since the release of ChatGPT, there has been a dynamic shift in the preferences of customers as well as companies. You might have already seen articles & videos about how to boost your productivity using ChatGPT, How to provide the best Prompts to ChatGPT.
It is sure is a handy tool that brings knowledge and understanding of the whole data to the tip of its user. It sure gets us through repetitive, intensive tasks that do not lead to learning. But will it replace Software/Web/application Developers? The answer is a NO.
In this article let’s review the why’s and how’s of the hypothesis of the previous question in the context of front-end development.
Will ChatGPT Replace Front-End Developers?
Front-End development is a rapidly evolving area and the expertise required keeps on changing. The developers hence experience fast learning curves to deliver the product.
If you are a Front-End developer you must keep up with the pace of the community. Since the late 1990s, the field has grown by leaps and bounds. It has a plethora of tools that are used to build seamless and interactive websites.
Developers can build, implement, and fix bugs in the code faster with ChatGPT. Consider, previously a task that needed a team of 5 developers can be now completed with 2 experienced developers in the same amount of time. The implication that this will reduce demand for front-end developers is a delusion.
We must understand ChatGPT’s true capabilities to continue with the earlier arguments.
How Good is ChatGPT for Web Development?
Front-End Developers aspire to build cool stuff and there is no shortage of projects, products and ideas to build. With a tool like ChatGPT, a Front-End Developer can bypass most of the task-intensive stuff and indulge in more creation, and learning.
LLMs(Large Language Models) like ChatGPT are intelligent text predictors, which are trained on large-scale data. Its answers are not always correct. It can easily do tasks about building functions, basic HTML pages etc accurately. Further, the accuracy depends on the quality of the training data.
Some AI tools that are available can build complete applications but when you try them out you might notice the responses are far from accurate. To validate and correct these code responses you need a front-developer reviewing and correcting it at the receiving end.
How does AI build big projects that tech companies work on? We are at least a decade away from prompt engineers with domain knowledge (who might as well be developers) to start replacing the developer’s tasks. At this point, it is hard to predict future inventions and research.
Though you might understand that ChatGPT is a sophisticated tool that we cannot imagine working without the tool handler.
If you want ChatGPT to perform specific tasks you can prompt the details and monitor it to receive the right response. You can ask it to explain technical questions and algorithms and it does an excellent job. The limitations of the present ChatGPT are its frequent code errors, inability to validate its answers, hallucinations, and bias in training data and answers.
ChatGPT cannot understand the context and concepts of company requirements, and can’t comprehend the existing large code bases of a company. It cannot provide you with solutions from critical thinking.
Is It the Same for Back-End Web Developers Too?
In order to exchange, store, and provide the necessary data, back-end developers make sure that the server, databases, and application programming interfaces (APIs) work together seamlessly.
ChatGPT can automate backend tasks such as producing system diagrams, improving database designs, and developing service meshes. Engineers can now quickly and easily create intricate infrastructure diagrams and database designs. This will save time and effort during the development process.
Both front-end and back-end are difficult in their own ways but Back-End development is more generic. The amount of modification and crafting needed by businesses on the server side is rather small.
Future of Web Development with AI
Rapidly evolving technology and AI tools, force whole job landscapes to change in the future. Some roles that do not exist now might become very essential and roles that are repetitive might get automated.
Multiple entry-level positions in web developement are already being replaced, and this trend will continue in future. As we progress towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), there will be more jobs that require a strong knowledge base and targeted skill set in the tech domain.
The skill barrier to entering any tech domain jobs like web development is going to raise and so is the demand. Moreover, people are more likely to enjoy learning, creation-intensive jobs.
Takeaways
Front-end developers have always had a constant thirst for knowledge. They are eager to develop seamless websites by understanding requirements. With tools like ChatGPT democratizing knowledge, Developers are presented with an amazing opportunity to create seamless websites and boost their efficiency.
Having a teaching assistant readily accessible has never been easier for ambitious front-end developers just getting started! With tools like ChatGPT around, the stakes are higher, but the opportunities are also soaring.
Now is the perfect time to dive in, learn essential Front-End Development skills, and start creating exciting projects. Embark on your journey as a developer with enthusiasm and confidence!
