The death of web development education

Baldur Bjarnason wrote a personal blog post describing his experiences working in various fields, such as authoring, publishing, consulting, development, education, radio, and TV production. Despite these diverse roles, none of them proved economically viable in the long run. Furthermore, Bjarnason notes that communities often alienate interdisciplinary individuals who don't fit their narrow definitions of a discipline.

He mentions how generative AI has impacted web development education: many training and education projects he worked on have dwindled, and most of his peers selling courses and training have shut down their businesses. The demand for web development ebooks has plummeted.

Software developers may not have switched entirely to AI agents for coding, but they have adopted error-prone, retrograde, nondeterministic chatbots to replace what they consider "education." Many independent educators who once earned a living from web development training and developer relations have reported that generative AI has destroyed their businesses.

Axel Rauschmayer, a prolific writer on JavaScript and TypeScript, used to publish his e-books as free online books since 2005. After explaining the intricacies of ECMAScript and other web technologies on his influential blog 2ality, he wrote that his income from book sales dropped from a livable amount in 2024 to zero in 2026. Although AI crawlers generate a surge in traffic, he doesn't receive any ad revenue, leading him to take his blog and books offline to reclaim control over his work.

Salma Alam-Naylor, who worked in Developer Relations, describes the pressure to justify her role's existence in a field that cannot generate short-term financial gain. DevRel, she writes, leads to burnout and anxiety. She observes that developers are scrolling through mindless short-form content rather than collaborating authentically with humans, turning to chatbots for interaction.

She concludes that the future is bleak for educators, as their curated curriculums are routinely stolen and regurgitated by predictive algorithms. AI-generated content erases the personal touch, hard work, and expertise that educators put into their work.

Rich curriculums crafted with care for real human audiences are now easily replicated by algorithms, leaving educators questioning whether their experience, skills, empathy, and teaching expertise hold the value they once did. Josh W. Comeau, a course creator specializing in web technologies, has seen his revenue drop by 50% due to GenAI stealing his work.

Similarly, Kyle Cook, a YouTube content creator from Web Dev Simplified, reported a halving of his views and income on programming tutorials. He believes that there is no incentive for people to create high-quality free content when AI tools copy and regurgitate it without consent or compensation. Cook notes that the only reason he continues to make programming content is because he finds enjoyment in it, and he earns money through other means besides YouTube ad revenue.

Rachel Andrew, a renowned technical writer and editor of numerous books and articles on web topics, discusses the impact of generative AI on technical publishing. She observes that AI tools can introduce subtle inaccuracies without the original authors being aware of it, leading to a strained relationship between subject matter experts and editors.

While Andrew sees potential benefits in AI automating certain tasks, she questions whether these gains are genuine and whether AI truly increases productivity. She emphasizes that AI's output needs to be reviewed by experts deeply invested in the end result, as its confidence in being correct can be misleading.