Amazon says developers spend a surprisingly small amount of time per day coding

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman told developers that Amazon Q Developer is meant to boost productivity.

Artificial intelligence could give coders more time to code, but programmers aren’t sure whether that’s a good thing.

In a post Tuesday, Amazon Web Services said developers report spending an average of “just one hour per day” on actual coding.

The rest is eaten up by “tedious, undifferentiated tasks,” AWS said. That includes learning codebases, drafting documents, testing, overseeing releases, fixing problems, or hunting down vulnerabilities, AWS said. The company didn’t say where it got the data.

At the company’s re:Invent keynote on Tuesday, AWS CEO Matt Garman introduced a tool he said would give developers more time to focus on creativity: Amazon Q Developer, an AI agent that AWS is rolling out in two tiers with free and paid options.

The announcement is another indication that technology like AI could upend the way many coders do their jobs. Some have argued that AI will remove some of the tedium from tasks like creating documentation and generating basic code. That could be great for coders’ productivity — and perhaps for their enjoyment of the jobs — yet it could also mean employers need fewer of them.

GitLab has reported that developers spend more than 75% of their time on tasks other than coding. Several veteran software engineers have told B-17 that they spend closer to half their time coding.

Software engineers on job forums like Blind are discussing how much they should rely on an AI assistant for their work. Some have asked for recommendations for the best agent and received genuine reviews mixed with replies like “your own brain.” Others worry that AI has already become a crutch in their coding process.

AWS isn’t the only tech giant offering AI to coders. Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that AI generates more than a quarter of the new code created at the search company. He said the technology was “boosting productivity and efficiency.” Workers review the code that AI produces, Pichai said.

“This helps our engineers do more and move faster,” he said. “I’m energized by our progress and the opportunities ahead, and we continue to be laser-focused on building great products.”

The rise of AI could be worrisome for newbie programmers who need to develop their skills, said Jesal Gadhia, the head of engineering at Thoughtful AI, which creates AI tools for healthcare providers.

“Junior engineers have a little bit of a target behind their back,” Gadhia previously told B-17.

He said that when an AI tool touted as the “first AI software engineer” came out this year, he received texts from nervous friends.

“There was a lot of panic. I had a lot of friends of mine who messaged me and said, ‘Hey, am I going to lose my job?'” Gadhia said.