The 100X Developer: AI and the Future of Software Development
We had the singular privilege to have Jason Gilmore, CEO of Treehouse, speak to the West Virginia Coding Club students at one of our regular meetings.
Jason has been the CEO of Treehouse for almost two years and says this opportunity is a "dream come true”. He started coding at age eight when he received a Commodore 64 computer for Christmas. Jason is the author of nine books, including the bestselling “Beginning PHP and MySQL” and “Easy Laravel 5". Jason's writings on web technologies have appeared hundreds of times within popular industry publications. He is also the co-founder and former board member of the CodeMash Conference (www.codemash.org) He is also a Principal at Xenon Partners, where he leads the Mergers & Acquisitions Technical Arm. Prior to joining Treehouse, Jason spent four years as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of DreamFactory Software, and prior to that spent many years as a developer or lead developer with other companies.
Treehouse's name precedes itself, their Mission is to diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity and empowering people to achieve their dreams. It is an online technology school that offers beginner to advanced courses in web design, web development, mobile development and game development. Its courses are aimed to help its students develop coding skills for a career in the tech industry. The Treehouse learning program includes videos combined with interactive quizzes and code challenges. Jason shared that Treehouse has published 29 AI courses over the past few months with many more on the way!
Jason explained that many people are concerned about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but he believes programmers who embrace AI will have more fun and rewarding careers than ever before. A "10X Developer" is a very good and efficient Coder and pretty rare to find, but with the support of AI even an average coder can become a 100X Developer.
Jason discussed Generative AI, where ChatGPT seems to be the best known currently. They use LLMs (Large Language Models) to guess the next most likely word. They basically have created a map of the text-based world. How that data is weighted is why responses can differ each time.
A book titled "What is ChatGPT Doing and Why Does It Work?", authored by Stephen Wolfram, was recommended by Jason. Jason took time to show how AI could be used as a Research Assistant, Video Game Asset Creator and Coding Assistant. He showed how he used AI and in 12 hours (start to finish) he created a website (using HTML and CSS) called BlogIgnite.com
Jason explained how to use the Coding Assistant to help you create the "plumbing" underneath so that you become the architect for the "cool stuff" in building your program. You can have it help automate tests to help test your code. He also shared a site that has AI models for download.
With these kinds of tools it allows a Coder to consider how they make the best use of their time so they can focus on the aspects that make users / customers productive and happy.
Jason gave students thoughts of the future with AI:
1. Programming isn't going away, but it is going to change.
2. We're going to leave the boring stuff to computers, and using our creativity to build the next generation of technology products.
3. Truly realistic, talking AI is coming.
4. The best part about being programmers is that we have a unique opportunity to build the future we want to see!
Jason’s advice to students:
1. Have a positive attitude!
2. Be willing to learn and work hard!
3. Very Important - Don’t be afraid to network!!! Meet and connect with others!!! Talk Tech. LinkedIn!!! Jason shared that all of his contracts, positions came because of the good connections he made.
Dan McElroy, President of WV Coding Club, shared, "We are grateful to Jason for his insights into Artificial Intelligence and his leadership at Treehouse. This is truly a path for students to pursue a great career, have the potential to work remotely, and have opportunity everywhere. Thank you Jason for your time and support of our WV Coding Club students!"
Keep Coding!