Why ChatGPT cannot replace IT jobs

There has been a lot of fear mongering about what ChatGPT can do and how it can put IT and Technology folks out of work.

I have been an IT Professional for 20+ years and can say for sure that IT jobs are one of the toughest. We are under constant pressure to learn and keep pace with changing technology and be at the cutting edge of delivering productive outcomes.

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ChatGPT replacing IT jobs are the least of my worries, I will be worried about jobs that are repetitive and ripe for automation.

Below are some of the reasons for the argument.

1. If ChatGPT was capable or will eventually be capable as what people claim, why would Microsoft and others value it at a mere USD 29 Billion. For example, a taxi hailing and food delivery app is valued at USD 40 billion. Investors would be preview to a lot more insider information and future capabilities of the tool.
2. Chat GPT is a productivity tool, no doubt about it. At the end of the day, programming is nothing but training machines and computers to perform the tasks. Chat GPT is one way to perform this. What we converse with Chat GPT is nothing but code, the learning curve is much less than a conventional programming language, but the capability of Chat GPT is very limited.
3. An IT project is not about producing code, it is about engaging with people, understanding requirements, validating requirements, prioritising changes, implementing , integrating with existing systems, validating the final integrated solution. Software is 99% a people challenge, not code generation challenge.
4. The perfect analogy is “Data is the new oil”, with the recent explosion of data collection and systems being about to mine data, from storing and processing 10 GB of data to 10000X times the volume in the same time, we will see ChatGPT increase productivity and this will in-turn push the boundaries of what technology can create. We will leverage this capability on audio and visual technologies, Augmented Reality and Virtual reality will be new oil !

There will alway be “something is the new oil !, ChatGPT is the new oil“