It's going to be painful for a lot of people': Software engineers may not exist by year end, says creator of the AI program freaking out the market

🟢 READ | ⏱ 8 min | 📡 8/10 | 🎯 Tech professionals, AI-interested readers, decision-makers

TL;DR

Claude Code's creator Boris Cherny predicts the "software engineer" job title will disappear by year-end as AI autonomously writes entire codebases. He compares this disruption to the printing press replacing scribes, freeing humans for higher-level work, but warns the transition will be "painful for a lot of people."

Signal

Claude Code has written 100% of Cherny's own code since November 2025; he only reviews for correctness and safety
A Google engineer reported the tool recreated a year's worth of work in a single hour
Anthropic released Cowork, an expanded version for non-coders that can autonomously manage tasks like Slack updates and spreadsheet management

What They're NOT Telling You

The article sidesteps hard questions: (1) economic impact quantification or realistic retraining pathways beyond "become a generalist," (2) whether this prediction accounts for technical limitations, regulatory headwinds, or market consolidation effects, and (3) industry skeptics or counterarguments from experts skeptical of such rapid job displacement.

Trust Check

Factuality ✅ | Author Authority ✅ | Actionability ⚠️