In three years, Cyberdyne will become the
largest supplier of military computer
systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded
with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully
unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a
perfect operational record. The Skynet
Funding Bill is passed. The system goes
online August 4th, 1997. Human decisions
are removed from strategic defense. Skynet
begins to learn at a geometric rate. It
becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern
time, August 29th. In a panic, they try
to pull the plug. Skynet fights back. It
launches its missiles against the targets
in Russia. Skynet knows that the Russian
counterattack will eliminate its enemies
over here.
In fact, the reason such jobs are desirable, is specifically because they're actually kind of cushy.
Stock trading is a task that has been over-complicated mostly because investors need to engage in double-speak, so that motives for trades that lead to financial gain can be sufficiently obfuscated, when explained to auditors, judges, juries and regulatory officials. Behind the curtain of quants, it's really just a lot of grocery shopping.
Software development is mostly about stacking legos in ornate fashion. Bytes cobble together as building blocks. There are a variety of 256 different building blocks. The computers themselves, the syntax of the code, the methodology of data structures and loops, these aren't the hard parts. It's just plumbing.
Plumbing is probably a similar target of automation.