A recent analysis by labor market data platform Draup suggests that while artificial intelligence is transforming technical roles, it is not reducing the demand for IT professionals.
A recent analysis by labor market data platform Draup suggests that while artificial intelligence is transforming technical roles, it is not reducing the demand for IT professionals.
The study is based on an analysis of 2.85 million job descriptions for the period from June 2025 to June 2026.
These findings come after years of massive layoffs in the tech sector, with many companies trying to promote AI as a tool to reduce staffing and personnel costs.
Draup says AI is expanding the job market, not narrowing it. According to the company, fields such as software development, data engineering, and DevOps have more than 40,000 active vacancies each, Business Insider reports .
“AI is not reducing the need for technical talent, but it is changing what makes these professionals valuable,” said Draup CEO Vijay Swaminathan.
The report notes that AI and automation are changing every technical profession, albeit in different ways.
Skills focused on “expert judgment, design, and accountability” are proving more resilient in the AI era, the study found. The report added that deep subject matter expertise and communication skills will continue to be critical.
In particular, the company found that systems design, debugging, data management, and model evaluation remained important, while routine work—such as writing boilerplate code and manual testing—was at risk of automation.
As part of this study, Draup analyzed over 1 million job descriptions for software engineers. The results showed that finding bugs in code and peer review are likely to remain core requirements, while writing simple code or memorizing syntax are losing their relevance.
Employers are increasingly looking for people who can work with AI tools, Draup said. Many job descriptions directly mention services like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Claude. They appeared in more than 60,000 ads across nine job categories the company surveyed.
While the report records an overall increase in demand for IT professionals, the situation for newcomers to this field is much more difficult.
“Expectations for early-career candidates are rising the fastest, as routine tasks that juniors used to “get their hands dirty” are now being automated the most,” the report says.
Draup notes that this will force employers to "rethink traditional approaches to hiring, staff development, and career advancement."
This could mean helping junior professionals develop design, review, and expert judgment skills within months, rather than years, the company believes.
The report’s main conclusion is that employers should “stop evaluating technical talent through the lens of tasks that humans perform today, and instead build a framework around skills that will remain valuable when AI can perform this routine on its own.”
