AI in Serbian tech jobs raises concerns as frontend roles shrink

A viral discussion on Reddit has revived a question many people in Serbia’s tech sector are already hearing in private: what happens when AI starts doing parts of a developer’s job. In the thread, one frontend developer said he was told there was no longer a need for his role because AI now handles frontend work.

The post prompted a wide debate about layoffs, changing team structures and whether programmers should try to adapt or look for a different path. Several commenters argued that the industry is moving away from narrow roles and toward people who can work across the full product stack.

What the community suggested

Alongside the expected jokes and trolling, the discussion produced a few practical suggestions. Some commenters said the era of a standalone frontend specialist is ending, and that developers now need to understand more than one layer of the product.

Others said the key is responsibility rather than just code writing. One recurring theme was that people who can see how the whole system works, not just one component, will be better positioned if teams become smaller.

There were also recommendations to move toward entrepreneurship, sales engineering or broader technical roles that combine product, technology and business. One commenter said buyers of expensive products still want a human who understands the technology, not only an automated assistant.

Market signals point in the same direction

The discussion comes at a time when hiring patterns are changing. In a recent report, the share of frontend roles fell by about 25%, while demand for AI and machine learning jobs rose by 88%.

That report also showed stronger demand for architects, security engineers, deployment engineers, QA specialists and technical support staff. Over the past year, skills connected to agents, AI agents and AI infrastructure have also become more sought after.

According to the article, some Serbian companies that had been in the news for layoffs earlier this year are now moving back into hiring mode. Even so, the overall picture is less stable than it was a few years ago.

What recruiters and engineers say

Nevena Sofranić, founder of the recruitment firm Omnes Group, said the market is going through a structural shift. In her view, the boundaries between roles are fading, and employers increasingly expect designers to handle frontend work, frontend developers to move into backend tasks, and backend engineers to deliver features with less support.

She said senior engineers remain in demand because AI makes coding faster, but does not replace planning, architecture, team coordination or judgment. Sofranić also said junior developers need a different focus today, one that includes architecture, code review, integration of LLMs and APIs, work with RAG and vector databases, and understanding the business itself.

Milan Milanović, CTO and author of Laws of Software Engineering, said AI has already reduced the number of people needed to complete some jobs. He added that frontend work is among the areas where AI agents are now very capable, but that human review is still needed for accessibility, performance, user experience and design.

He said companies should help employees learn AI tools during working hours if they want teams to use them well. For people who lose a job, he recommended learning a broader tech stack and AI tools, while warning that this may expand options but does not guarantee employment.

For readers looking for more context on how the tech market is changing, see latest news.

The article also points readers to two follow-up directions: a recent note about a manager from Anthropic who dropped the technical interview, and applications for the free Superplane Startap Akademija, which are open until 11 November.