by Abhishek Bharadwaj

Created on: February 27, 2007   Last Updated: April 17, 2007

Lets say it this way, "There will be lesser software programming jobs".
There are a few broad categories of software like Games, Web Applications, Industrial Application, and End User application, which cover almost every kind of software we use. Be it 'Age of Empires' or 'MATLAB/Simulink', every software needs programmers and testers. If there is so much demand of software professionals then why at all are we discussing this? No matter what, we will be definitely using all kinds of softwares in future too. So, where is the problem?

Software programmers are definitely not going to be jobless in the next 10-15 years, but there will be a decrease in the number of opportunities. There can be a number of reasons viz. open source, software reusability etc. In very far future, automatic programming may pose a trouble for programmers. But, I am very sure that we will not be seeing that era. Every industry goes through a cycle and so will the software industry. For example, consider automotive industry. What happened to it? Why are people loosing their jobs? Why are companies laying off at such a large scale? The reason for this decline in number of jobs in automotive sector is automation and efficient use of manpower. Software industry will not face the same trouble in very near future. As I told earlier, automatic programming is a far fetched thing and it is not going to be used in making commercial softwares in near future. So, what can be the problem?
There can be many! Let us discuss them one by one.

Yesterday, I bought an i-pod; 30 GB, small, sleek and amazing. But wait a second! What am I going to do with those 30 GBs? I am pretty much sure that I will never listen those many songs and I will never be able to fill all the space. What if Apple comes with a new i-pod with 100 GB space? Do you find it useful? What if the size is half the current size? Don't you feel a saturation in mp3 player technology? Don't you feel the price should go down? Will you ever buy a 100 GB i-pod? If you think rationally, your answer will be 'no'.
Software industry is bound to face such a saturation in future. Already existing softwares are capable enough to cater to the needs. The concept of software reusability can be critical here. Even if there is a slight modifications in the requirement, it is not required to begin the whole development process. I do not find any significant improvements in Windows operating systems lately. Basically, Microsoft is trying to make the OS beautiful

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