- Looking ahead 5-10 years [created 2022/02/23] -
When I first started learning computer science, I was left with the impression that it was an oversaturated and overvalued field. And that is true, to an extent. Those doing webdev and simple boilerplate code will become useless as open source continues gaining popularity, the population becomes tech literate by default, and new tools are made, however those working on novel, innovative programs are arguably undervalued due to the insane returns on engineering.
You make 1 program - literally just text, and it can grow in popularity->value without involving manufacturing costs or necessarily maintenance (of course, this depends on the nature of the program, as can be evidenced by companies like Facebook - the growth of popularity of their product requires people to be added to their teams in large swathes, to deal with the intricacies of such an expansive product - backend, load balancing, novel methods of data collection, leveraging the ever growing dumps for profit, etc). The possibilites are huge and increasing, and they will continue to do so, especially with the onset of AI/ML and the ongoing improvement of hardware. Languages will evolve, becoming more powerful, ideally simpler and more accessible, and our command over hardware and data will increase.
As a whole, the most impactful fields will likely be AI/ML and AR/VR (true immersion is coming, if the large companies have anything to do with it). Wearables and IoT will likely gain popularity as well, once they become more “natural”, and integrate more usefully and seamlessly into our lives. Rust as a language will likely replace cpp (it is the ultimate performance language for power users, and optimization of it will improve as people assign more value to it), and python will be further simplified, leaving 2 main “types” of programming - interpreted, and compiled (as has historically been the case).
The political and social effects will be interesting, as power, of course, is rarely leveraged for good. Citizens will be profiled, hacks will continue and grow in sophistication, and technology will extend its function beyond what we can imagine now. Children will be exposed to techology at an earlier age, and the large companies will push thier products to build familiarity and affiliation (as always). The internet will grow more “decentralized”, technologically, but even more strictly controlled/regulated by various powers (large companies and nations, primarily). The blockchain hype will die down, and cryptocurrencies will become the norm, however not in their current form - something state-controlled.