Submission + - Code.org-Tied Investors Back AI-Assisted Gigification of Entry-Level Dev Jobs
theodp writes: Run by the tech-backed nonprofit Code.org, the nation's 2024 Hour of Code for K-12 students kicks off Monday as part of Computer Science Education Week. As in years past, the Hour of Code seeks to make tech careers enticing to young students, but this year's pitch comes as the once-booming tech job market has contracted sharply amid an AI investment frenzy. It's a marked change from the original Hour of Code in 2013, when Mark Zuckerberg helped pitch tech careers by saying, "Our policy at Facebook is literally to hire as many talented engineers as we can find." Ten years later, Zuckerberg was laying off as many talented engineers as he could find.
Particularly disrupted by AI and outsourcing, explained UC Berkeley CS professor James Brown, are entry-level tech positions. "In tech," Brown writes, "programming positions that aren't that demanding are disappearing. You can now use a programming assistant that's based on a large language model to basically write a lot of code for you. So, where a company would have had to hire one or two people before, they no longer need to. There are still entry-level jobs that involve basically babysitting the AI — but these systems are getting better very quickly."
Interestingly, as O'Brien frets that universal basic income may soon be needed since "a person starting their [CS] degree today may find themself graduating four years from now into a world with very limited employment options," GitStart — a Y Combinator startup backed by a Who's Who of tech leaders, is aiming to cash in on the gigification of software engineering by "redistributing [CS] work to [AI-assisted] junior engineers worldwide." According to Bonfire Ventures, which led a recent investment round, GitStart customers have reported substantial cost savings, with one CEO noting, "Every ticket that GitStart handles costs me one-sixth of what it costs in-house, and it gets done faster."
GitStart's $5M seed financing was led by Code.org co-founder Ali Partovi's Neo, together with tech leaders that included Microsoft CTO and AI EVP Kevin Scott (also a Code.org Board member), Google VP Parisa Tabriz (also a Code.org Board member), Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (a Code.org donor/advisor), and others, including OpenAI Board member Adam D'Angelo (Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi — Ali's twin — participated in a recent investment round). Individuals who have invested in Neo include tech giant leaders and Code.org boosters Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Reid Hoffman, Jeff Wilke (a Code.org Board member), Sheryl Sandberg, and Eric Schmidt.
Particularly disrupted by AI and outsourcing, explained UC Berkeley CS professor James Brown, are entry-level tech positions. "In tech," Brown writes, "programming positions that aren't that demanding are disappearing. You can now use a programming assistant that's based on a large language model to basically write a lot of code for you. So, where a company would have had to hire one or two people before, they no longer need to. There are still entry-level jobs that involve basically babysitting the AI — but these systems are getting better very quickly."
Interestingly, as O'Brien frets that universal basic income may soon be needed since "a person starting their [CS] degree today may find themself graduating four years from now into a world with very limited employment options," GitStart — a Y Combinator startup backed by a Who's Who of tech leaders, is aiming to cash in on the gigification of software engineering by "redistributing [CS] work to [AI-assisted] junior engineers worldwide." According to Bonfire Ventures, which led a recent investment round, GitStart customers have reported substantial cost savings, with one CEO noting, "Every ticket that GitStart handles costs me one-sixth of what it costs in-house, and it gets done faster."
GitStart's $5M seed financing was led by Code.org co-founder Ali Partovi's Neo, together with tech leaders that included Microsoft CTO and AI EVP Kevin Scott (also a Code.org Board member), Google VP Parisa Tabriz (also a Code.org Board member), Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (a Code.org donor/advisor), and others, including OpenAI Board member Adam D'Angelo (Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi — Ali's twin — participated in a recent investment round). Individuals who have invested in Neo include tech giant leaders and Code.org boosters Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Reid Hoffman, Jeff Wilke (a Code.org Board member), Sheryl Sandberg, and Eric Schmidt.
