Software Engineering Jobs Surge 11% as AI Fuels Demand for Technical Talent and Sparks Enterprise SaaS Disruption
Summary
Software engineering jobs surge 11% year over year as AI drives demand for technical talent, with vibe coding empowering novices but still requiring expert engineers for production-ready software, while enterprises increasingly ditch legacy SaaS platforms to build custom AI-powered tools in-house.
Key Points
- Despite fears of AI-driven job losses, software engineering job postings are up 11% year over year, with unemployment holding at 4.28%, countering doom-and-gloom predictions about AI's impact on the labor market.
- Vibe coding is lowering the barrier for novices to produce code and prototypes, but converting those outputs into functional, production-ready software still demands expert engineers, driving up demand for technical talent rather than eliminating it.
- AI is also accelerating a potential 'SaaS-pocalypse,' as enterprises increasingly build custom in-house tools instead of relying on legacy platforms like Salesforce and Workday, shifting spending toward in-house developers and AI-powered development tools.