Write computer programming code
Most of the output can be produced by software today.
Work that already happens inside a computer is the easiest to hand over, because the agent and the worker are operating in the same place. The constraint is permissions rather than capability: the agent needs its own scoped access, not a borrowed password.
| How automatable | Mostly automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Work done in software |
| Jobs that do it | 17 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | Tools and auth, Builders |
| O*NET activity | Working with Computers (4.A.3.b.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 17 occupations that perform it.
- Develop transactional Web applications, using Web programming software and knowledge of programming languages, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) and extensible markup language (XML).
- Use object-oriented programming languages, as well as client and server applications development processes and multimedia and Internet technology.
- Write and code logical and physical database descriptions and specify identifiers of database to management system, or direct others in coding descriptions.
- Write new programs or modify existing programs to meet customer requirements, using current programming languages and technologies.
- Write, update, and maintain computer programs or software packages to handle specific jobs such as tracking inventory, storing or retrieving data, or controlling other equipment.
- Write supporting code for Web applications or Web sites.
- Perform computer programming, data analysis, or software development for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications, including the maintenance of existing systems or research and development for future enhancements.
- Write and execute scripts to automate tasks, such as parsing large data files.
- Automate the deployment of software updates over geographically distributed network nodes.
- Prepare and structure data warehouses for storing data.
- Write program code to analyze data with statistical analysis software.
- Write new functions or applications in programming languages to conduct analyses.
- Program and use computers to store, process, and analyze data.
- Develop computer programs to collect meteorological data or to present meteorological information.
- Write programs for computer numerical control (CNC) machines to cut metal and plastic materials.
- Perform system analysis, data analysis or programming, using a variety of computer languages and procedures.
- Write, analyze, review, and rewrite programs, using workflow chart and diagram, and applying knowledge of computer capabilities, subject matter, and symbolic logic.
- Design, program, or model Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications or procedures.
What we would actually use
One recommendation rather than a shortlist, because a shortlist is just your problem handed back. This is what we would buy for work done in software, and what it costs.
Work already inside a computer needs scoped access, not a new product, so start with the assistant you are already paying for. n8n is free if you host it yourself and is the cheapest way to leave something running unattended.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
The rest of the category
Context, not alternatives to weigh up. We name the layer rather than promise a named product does your specific task.
Matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Check any of them can reach the system your records actually live in — that connection, not the model, is where these projects stall.
How people actually do it
Step-by-step workflows that name this activity, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Others for work done in software
Who does this work
17 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Atmospheric and Space Scientists
- Biologists
- Biostatisticians
- Blockchain Engineers
- Computer Programmers
- Computer Systems Analysts
- Data Scientists
- Data Warehousing Specialists
- Database Administrators
- Database Architects
- Digital Forensics Analysts
- Geographic Information Systems Technologists and Technicians
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Search Marketing Strategists
- Statisticians
- Web and Digital Interface Designers
- Web Developers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Program computer systems or production equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Program equipment to perform production tasks | 15 |
| Enter commands, instructions, or specifications into equipment | 8 |
| Program robotic equipment | 4 |
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.