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Professionals · code 2514

Applications programmers

AI writes a lot of code now. Knowing whether it's right is still a programmer.

AI could take a fair chunk of four of the five tasks, among them writing code, documenting it and running tests. Only pinning down and explaining technical problems is mostly out of its reach.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Applications programmers write and maintain programmable code outlined in technical instructions and specifications for software applications and operating systems. Tasks include - (a) writing and maintaining program code outlined in instructions and specifications in accordance with quality accredited standards; (b) revising, repairing or expanding existing programs to increase operating efficiency or adapt to new requirements; (c) conducting trial runs of programs and software applications to confirm that they will produce the desired information; (d) compiling and writing documentation of program development; (e) identifying and communicating technical problems, processes and solutions. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Applications programmer Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Programmer analyst - 2512 - Software developer - 2512 - Multimedia programmer - 2513

  • numerical tool and process control programmer
  • ICT application configurator
  • industrial mobile devices software developer
  • ICT application developer

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

43 / 100

Changing significantly

AI could do a real share of the everyday tasks. The job is changing shape, not vanishing.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Exposed: Gradient 3

406 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 5 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 57.1 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 57.1 = 42.9.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Exposed: Gradient 3”: Most of the tasks are affected.

This job rates 13.5 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Applications programmers 43

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Writing code.
  • Documentation.
  • Testing and fixing.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Understanding the problem.
  • Reviewing AI-written code.
  • Explaining technical issues.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Working with AI coding agents.
  • Building AI features.
  • Security reviews.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: High

63 could do without you

It could take over a lot of this job on its own. It could help with 77 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Lower

14 how hands-on

Not much of this job needs hands, so the robot can sit this one out.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 14 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

14 How
hands-on
14 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Less than half hands-on

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, matched to one US job .

finger skill 26.9 · hand skill 14.3 · cramped spaces 1.3 · averaged · rule: hands-on under 50

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 69, against an average of 57. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 69

    Writing and maintaining programme code outlined in instructions and specifications in accordance with quality accredited standards

    Medium
  2. 62

    Compiling and writing documentation of programme development

    Medium
  3. 56

    Revising, repairing or expanding existing programmes to increase operating efficiency or adapt to new requirements

    Medium
  4. 54

    Conducting trial runs of programmes and software applications to confirm that they will produce the desired information

    Medium
  5. 47

    Identifying and communicating technical problems, processes and solutions.

    Low

5 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
77
AI does it for you
63

Sidekick wins, by 14 points.

How good a match is this?

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 2613

Meanwhile, in real life…

Everything else here is about what AI could do. This is what people actually did. When they asked Claude for help with this kind of work, did they hand the whole task over, or roll their sleeves up and work through it together?

Out of every 100 conversations

37
63

worked through it together handed it over

The small print

Anthropic publishes this about its own product, and it doesn't feed into any score here. These are people who use Claude, not workers in general, so little use here doesn't mean AI can't reach the job. This job makes up 1.67% of the conversations.

These two add up to 100. The bars elsewhere on the page don't, because each is scored on its own, so we don't put them side by side.

observed use Anthropic Economic Index release 2026-06-26, period beginning 2026-05-01 data 0.8-observed-use 2026-05-01 · Anthropic, about its own product

So, should applications programmers be worried?

Short answer: not worried, but paying attention. The job is changing.

Much of it is exposed. Writing code, documentation, fixing programmes and test runs are rated Medium; communicating technical problems is Low. AI coding tools are strong at routine programming, so the job shifts to review, design and problem-solving.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 92 jobs in the “Professionals” family, averaging 62. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →