Does project automation eliminate programming jobs?
It can, certainly. Most large IT organisations these days, however, are faced with arbitrarily reduced budgets but no reduction in the amount of work they are expected to get done. These budget reductions are the main cause of layoffs. Improved efficiency on it’s own rarely leads to layoffs in IT organizations these days, it just makes outsourcing look less attractive. Many IT managers see project automation as a welcome tool to get more work done within their existing budgets. When a “hot” project takes less time, that frees up programmers to work on the backlog of essential projects and maintenance that all IT organizations now have. We all know that past a certain limit, you can’t just throw more programmers onto a project and expect it to get done faster. You often CAN, however, put more automation into a project and get it done faster. Fast, dependable local projects are valuable to senior management – the more efficient your project is, the better.
