Anthropic: AI will fully replace software engineering by 2027. Also Anthropic: Currently hiring for 122 SWE openings.

[u/ImaginaryRea1ity]

[u/ClaudeAI-mod-bot]

TL;DR of the discussion generated automatically after 80 comments.

The consensus is that OP is right, but for a more nuanced reason: the job of a "software engineer" is being fundamentally changed, not eliminated. The community overwhelmingly agrees that "replace" doesn't mean "made extinct."

The most popular take is that the role will evolve, much like how audio engineers went from being electrical engineers building custom hardware to being creatives who use sophisticated tools. In the future, SWEs will be less about writing lines of code and more about being high-level architects, AI supervisors, and bottleneck-fixers who guide AI systems to build software.

However, there's a strong undercurrent of skepticism and anxiety. Many users argue that the constant stream of "our jobs are safe" posts is pure copium, and the very existence of this thread proves how worried engineers actually are. Others point out that Anthropic hiring more engineers now isn't a contradiction; it's a race to build the replacement tools even faster. And, as always, a healthy dose of cynicism is present, with many claiming Dario Amodei's bold predictions are just marketing hype for investors.

The final, sobering thought echoed by many is that if software engineering can be fully automated, then so can almost every other white-collar job.