> create a React app with X amount of pages, some Redux stores, Auth, etc.
Unless you're a contractor making basic websites for small businesses, how many of these do you need to make? This really a small fraction of the job of most developers, except for entry-level devs.
> when it comes to maintaining existing systems, or adding more complicated features, or needing to know business domain details,
This is what experienced developers will spend 90% of their time doing.
So yes, LLMs can replace entry-level devs, but not the more experienced ones.
This begs the question: if companies stop hiring entry-level devs because LLMs can do their job, how will new devs get experience?
Your conclusion is wrong I think. LLMs cannot magically replace entry levels devs. Who’s gonna ask the LLM to create the basic website? The product owner? The accountant? The sales guy? They wouldn’t know how to be precise enough to state what they actually need. An entry level engineer would make use of the LLM to produce the website and push it to production. Hell, only engineers know that the devil is in the details. Quick example: let’s say a Contact Us page needs to be built. There are tons of details that need to be accounted for and the LLM may skip them if it is not told about them: where does the data of the form go to? A backend endpoint? What about captcha? What about analytics? What about validation of specific fields? What about the friendly URL? And disabling the button after sending to prevent duplicate requests?
An LLM is very capable of implementing all of that… if only someone who knows all of that stuff tell them first.
And most importantly: LLMs don’t challenge the task given. Engineers do. Many times, problems are solved without code.
> An LLM is very capable of implementing all of that… if only someone who knows all of that stuff tell them first.
I agree with you, but I don't think it's the entry-level dev who is going to be interfacing with the client to discuss and resolve all the questions you posed, and/or decide on them. That was part of the OP's point -- that much of their time is spent interfacing with the client to very precisely determine the requirements.
A lot of the value a good engineer provides is saying “you don’t want to do that, it’s a bad idea for these reasons.” Or “that’s actually easier than you think. We could do it this way.”
Knowing what’s possible, difficult, easy, risky, cheap, expensive, etc.
Unless you're a contractor making basic websites for small businesses, how many of these do you need to make? This really a small fraction of the job of most developers, except for entry-level devs.
> when it comes to maintaining existing systems, or adding more complicated features, or needing to know business domain details,
This is what experienced developers will spend 90% of their time doing.
So yes, LLMs can replace entry-level devs, but not the more experienced ones.
This begs the question: if companies stop hiring entry-level devs because LLMs can do their job, how will new devs get experience?