The rise of vibe coding has been controversial in the tech world. On the one hand, it’s never been easier to create a functional solution, if a little scrappy, with just a few plain language prompts. But on the other hand, all those hastily cobbled together solutions can build up technical debt, with baked-in imperfections which surface at critical moments, months after going live.
With AI tools now handling much of the day-to-day work of so many tech sector professionals, churning out functional code at a rate which a human simply cannot compete with, does vibe coding pose an existential threat to some ServiceNow careers?
A Productivity Boost?
A measurable change was felt in the ServiceNow ecosystem pretty soon after the release of Now Assist – the generative AI tool now called ServiceNow Otto. ServiceNow said that using their generative AI tools improved their developer productivity, saving hours equivalent to a “10% productivity gain” and a code generation acceptance rate of 48%.
They added that, within 120 days of implementing Now Assist – which was launched in 2023 – they had $10M in annualized tangible benefit, representing $5M+ annualized cost takeout and an additional $4M+ in productivity. Within months, tangible benefit increased 40% to $14.4M, they said.
“Within months of deployment, Now Assist was being used across the enterprise, increasing productivity by deflecting cases and automating manual work while also improving our employee self-serve experience,” the company said.
Of course, they are reviewing their own product here, so a pinch of salt is very much in order.
In any case, if we take the 10% productivity boost at face value, and apply it to the industry generally, this does not necessarily translate to 10% fewer developers. It could, however, mean that customers and consultancies need fewer billable hours for routine tasks like scripting, configuration, and debugging.
‘It Will Be Harder for New Hires’
This month, we caught up with Certified Technical Architect and ServiceNow Rising Star, Hristo Ivanov, at World Forum 2026 in London. He told us that vibe coding “sounds like a bad term” now, but AI has helped people iterate through ideas faster.
When asked whether vibe coding was a threat to the ServiceNow Developer role, he said: “I don’t think the whole role is under threat. I feel like it’s probably going to be harder for junior people.”
Hristo added that he’s been in the ServiceNow ecosystem for nearly a decade, and in the early days, when he would speak to friends about making those first steps, it seemed relatively easy.
“I’d just tell them, read about this and that, and then you can start working. Now, honestly, people still ask me, ‘Is it worth joining the ServiceNow world, and how do I start?’ And I’m not sure what to answer,” he said.
“I feel like for new hires, it’s gonna be harder. For the people that are already a couple years into the ecosystem, I feel like it’s gonna be okay.
“The developer job is not going to disappear. It’s just going to be harder for new hires. You’ll need way more skills to enter than you did before.”
So, is this borne out by the data?
No Collapse of the Market Broadly
According to Indeed Hiring Lab research from July 2026, US software development job postings grew by almost 15% since the launch of Claude Code in late February 2025 – while overall job postings fell by 7% in the same period.
Job postings for roles with more possible exposure to AI-driven change, like software development, typically fell the most between 2022 and 2026, according to the research, but over the past year, the most AI-exposed occupations also typically saw the largest rebound in postings.
That comes with a caveat, though: 71% of the increase in software development job postings in the year to May 2026 was for senior roles. Demand is growing for experienced professionals who can work with AI. We are not really seeing a broad-based recovery across all software roles.
And even bearing this in mind, this rebound comes from a low starting point. Even taking the recent rise into account, software development job postings are around 27.5% beneath their pre-pandemic level. Overall job postings are essentially the same as in February 2020, according to Indeed.
What about the ServiceNow ecosystem in particular?
Case Study: ‘Changing Where Value Sits’
At Knowledge 2026, ServiceNow announced that Build Agent had been made generally available in ServiceNow Studio.
“Vibe coding is transforming how fast people can build. But speed without governance and an enterprise runtime produce apps that too often look ready but aren’t,” said Jithin Bhasker, group vice president and general manager of Creator Workflows and App Engine at ServiceNow.
“We’re making it possible for anyone to build on ServiceNow using the tools they already know and love, whether that’s their IDE, their coding agent, or their design tools, and ensure what they build is enterprise-ready from the moment they hit deploy.”
Over the last year, we haven’t seen a collapse of the ServiceNow job market, broadly speaking. We can take the UK job market as a case study for this.
According to ITJobsWatch, the figure for permanent job vacancies citing ServiceNow products and/or services for the British market stood at 1,291 in the six months to 29 October 2026. This is an increase on the 852 figure for the same period in 2025. The figure for 2024 was 895.
The median salary also rose from £59,430 ($79,000) in 2024 to £65,000 ($86,500) in 2025, and £68,500 ($91,000) in 2026. But if we break down the reality across seniority and role lines, it’s not the same rosy picture for everyone.
Research from the British Government, updated as of October 6, claims that, as AI adoption moves from generative tools towards agentic systems, change is accelerating across coding, assurance, and core digital workflows.
There is a noticeable shift away from routine coding and testing tasks toward roles focused on oversight, verification, and communication, as well as broader redesign of workflows, according to the Department for Work & Pensions’s Sector Skills Needs Assessment.
This could impact the growth in digital roles, particularly for software developers.
“AI is changing work in the digital and technologies sector by shifting where value sits,” the report’s authors write. “As AI becomes routine, employers place greater weight on judgement, accountability, and the ability to use it well within organisations.
“This is reshaping roles, collaboration, and progression, as responsibility moves towards guiding and owning AI-enabled outcomes rather than producing tasks directly.”
Code generation and translation are now broadly mainstream, with agentic systems reviewing and deploying code. Human QA/verification remains a core responsibility though – someone needs to be checking the AI’s work.
Additionally, new hybrid AI-augmented roles are emphasizing oversight, assurance, orchestration, and cross-functional collaboration, according to the research.
Final Thoughts
Simply put: yes, vibe coding is a threat to some ServiceNow careers – but a boon to others. If you are a seasoned, technical expert who can be trusted to oversee the work that the AI produces, your market value is likely going to keep going up.
However, as Hristo says, it’s probably going to be harder for junior people. The developer job is not going to disappear, but it could be “harder” for new hires.