AI Fixing Chronic Issues in Korea's SW Industry [Work and Life]

"AI has cured a chronic disease that the Korean software (SW) industry has suffered from for decades since its inception all at once."

Oh Chi-young, the founder of Jiranjigyo Group, entered the software market in 1994 by establishing JiranjigyoSoft. Today, Jiranjigyo has grown into Korea's representative SW development group, overseeing more than 20 domestic and international subsidiaries and affiliates, including Jiranjigyo Security, a company listed on KOSDAQ. Throughout this journey, Oh faced a persistent problem that plagued him deeply: a shortage of development personnel. There was always plenty of work, but never enough people. However, for the first time since its founding, the Jiranjigyo Group has recently escaped this manpower shortage. Oh said, "After actively utilizing AI, productivity increased by 30%." Thanks to this, there is now more flexibility in workforce management. The feeling Oh experiences cannot be simply described as 'flexibility.' It is akin to a patient who cured an incurable disease overnight?one they had given up on and accepted as fate.

The shortage of development personnel was an incurable disease deeply rooted in the Korean SW industry. Even large corporations lacked enough developers. Small and medium development companies had to fight desperately to secure talent. A few years ago, when the global economy contracted due to COVID-19, major Korean SW development companies competitively raised developers' salaries by as much as 50% at once. This was a strange phenomenon caused by the chronic manpower shortage.

With more development personnel available, the first thing JiranjigyoSoft did was to directly handle development tasks requested by its Japanese subsidiary. Until now, if the Japanese subsidiary needed a program, it outsourced development to external companies. It was an ironic situation where a leading Korean SW company outsourced development due to a lack of developers. But now, circumstances have changed. The future looks brighter. "If you use AI in tasks you are already doing, productivity increases by 1.3 times, but if you design and work with AI from the start, productivity increases by 2 to 3 times," Oh said.

However, AI has not made everyone happy. Drugs with extreme effects often have significant side effects. Global recruitment portal Indeed reported that, compared to 2022 when the public first started using ChatGPT, the number of software developer job postings in the U.S. dropped to 35.8 in 2024, with 2022 postings set at 100. For software majors about to enter the job market, AI is poison. Students who chose their major believing companies would hire them after graduation now feel fear in this changed world.

But broadly speaking, the current situation is an opportunity for both Korean software companies and majors. Jiranjigyo's motto is ‘Dream, Challenge, and Constant Progress.’ With the shortage of developers eased, there is now room to challenge the dreams that were only dreamed of before. Although there is no manpower shortage at the moment, more personnel will be needed in the long term to realize dreams and advance further. Oh also said, "Developers who use AI well can do the work of ten people alone." This means developers who have mastered AI-based development from the start can perform the role of an entire development team by themselves. One developer or a small team can start a company. While our technology to create ultra-large AI models is inferior compared to the U.S. and China, the story is different when it comes to applying AI to create other software. Koreans are well known for their ability to accept and apply new things.

The global economy is staggering due to the tariff war initiated by the U.S. However, the U.S. suggests not taxing software application services. This is because the world leaders in this field, such as Google, are American companies. Naver and Kakao can also benefit when they expand overseas. We must create second and third Naver and Kakao using AI as a weapon.