The Automation Paradox.

Software engineers automate processes. We make machines generate value¹ like tireless robotic hamsters in little virtual wheels.

Ironically, the moment a process gets fully automated, it becomes a commodity. Enough competitors automate it, and price gets dictated by supply/demand, not the value it creates.

Take web development - once a killer money spinner. People couldn’t make websites, but everybody needed one. You knew HTML, CSS, and (gosh!) SEO.

Clients booked, websites made, bills paid.

So we wanted to make more. Faster. More efficient. We automated the hell out of it.

Then Squarespace ruined it for all of us².

Web dev as we knew it was dead³. They had automated all the work out of it.

Exactly what we wanted. Exactly what we craved. Exactly what derailed our gravy trains.

Everyone could have a website now. So it wasn’t worth paying to have one anymore.

The Automation Paradox

This is the paradox: when you successfully automate a valuable process, you can drastically reduce its economic value.

Each successful automation reduces the scarcity of the - previously rare - solution. If enough compeititors come in then the market dictates pricing based on supply and demand rather than the value generated.

The automation makes the work accessible to more people; which drives down prices and changes market dynamics.

Software engineers are particularly susceptible because our core output is automation. We create systems that reduce manual effort, streamline processes, and eliminate repetitive tasks.

It all has to be about AI these days…

Many AI/LLM/GPT-sock-puppet⁴ companies are reaching for very-big-pots-of-gold in the same way Squarespace did.

Trouble is, they often have no moat. If it’s so easy to build an LLM app to automate something… then with a bit of investment so can I. So can you, too, probably.

So, once AI automates work, what happens to its value?