A Staffing Chief Says AI Is Creating More Work for Developers
Higher productivity means projects once out of reach now make sense, says Sander van 't Noordende.
WSJ What's News · The Tesla SpaceX Mega Merger is UnderwaySander van 't Noordende, the chief executive of Ronstadt, was asked where he is actually seeing artificial intelligence displace workers. He said he sees no effect at large scale, with unemployment still near historic lows, but he does see effects in pockets.
Then he offered the twist. In his words, "Claude can indeed do everything, but that has resulted in a higher demand for software developers."
Claude is the AI assistant many developers now use to write code. Van 't Noordende argues that its skill has not replaced developers because there is still, in his phrase, a lot of automation left to do in the world.
His argument is about cost and time per project. Before, a company might have wanted a new internal tool, an update to an old system, or automation for a tedious process, but the work would have taken too many engineering hours to justify. With AI lifting programmer productivity, he says, those business cases pencil out.
So instead of needing fewer engineers, he said, companies need more. As he put it, "applications that were out of reach before" are now in reach, "so we need more software engineers, if you will."
He does not claim no one is losing work. He said administrative jobs, accounting and finance clerks, and customer service work done in call centers or online chats are being affected. For unfilled jobs, he pointed to technology, including software development, and also to a lot of service industry work.
The lesson, in his telling, is that more productive coding does not shrink the to do list. It expands it.
Questions people ask
If AI can write code, why do companies still need human developers?
AI tools can draft code, suggest fixes, and handle routine tasks, but someone still has to decide what to build, check the work, connect it to older systems, and take responsibility when it breaks. Higher productivity also means a company can attempt more projects at once, which creates more oversight and integration work. That combination can raise demand for experienced developers even as each task takes less time.
Is this the same idea as Jevons paradox?
Yes, economists use that term for what happens when greater efficiency leads to greater use. When steam engines used less coal, coal use rose because steam power became economical in more places. Van 't Noordende is making a similar argument about coding: when each hour of engineering buys more automation, companies choose to automate more things.
Are entry-level developers still having a hard time finding jobs?
Many have reported a tougher market in the past two years, as post-pandemic hiring cooled and some routine junior tasks became easier to automate. Employers still report shortages for developers who can ship complex systems, work with AI tools, and understand business needs. The market looks bifurcated: harder at the entry level, stronger for people with proven experience.