High-Paying Profession Thought to Be Extinct Is Suddenly in Demand

Demand for software development jobs in the United States has risen. Last year, however, vacancies in the field fell amid the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI), and the profession was even predicted to become extinct.

CNBC International reported that concerns over declining software developer vacancies had emerged as more companies adopted AI-powered coding tools, whose capabilities are becoming more sophisticated by the day.

Microsoft-owned software development platform GitHub recorded that around half of projects were using AI-generated code in 2023. Last October, the platform confirmed that AI was involved in one in three code-suggestion tasks.

“If that pace continues over the next two years, most of the code uploaded to GitHub will be written by [AI] agents. Much of it may never be read in full by a human,” AI experts said, as quoted on Monday (12 October 2026).

Nevertheless, experts see this trend as a potential driver of continued growth in the profession rather than its demise. This is consistent with data from Indeed Hiring Lab, which said software developer vacancies in the US have risen by nearly 15% since 2025.

Some economists regard the increase as a sign of optimism about AI adoption in the labour market. Eric Kutcher, chairman of McKinsey North America, said demand for the profession was growing as companies produced more code for a range of projects.

“We are actually seeing greater growth in areas where we previously expected the biggest shifts as a result of automation,” Kutcher said.

McKinsey Global previously reported that the decline in the number of software developers was not solely caused by AI. Another factor was companies slowing recruitment after hiring heavily during the pandemic.

Even so, current demand remains below pre-pandemic levels. Indeed Hiring Lab data put vacancies for these roles at around 27.5% of their previous level, with senior positions accounting for 71% between May 2025 and May 2026.

The same data also showed that vacancies specifically mentioning AI skills accounted for 37% of the total increase in demand for software development jobs.