Technicality is No Longer Business

The value proposition for software engineers is shifting from lines of code to the spark of human insight that ignites possibility. AI is leveling up the playing field, the dual nature force of democratised AI is a cause for concern in two ways.

Businesses will increasingly look for people who have a solid track record of building great software. This is transitioning from the past where new hires would just need a fixed set of skills, and some on-the-job training, and they would start being productive in a few weeks. Now, new hires must be ready from day zero, due to the overwhelming market saturation with more entrants in CS and more downsizing of firms, inflating the talent pool.

It is clear that that the bar has been raised, and in the era of AI, what matters most is that people need not just have the technical skills but moreover, the visionary and end-to-end problem solver that can conceive, build, and leadanything with anything.

Any good business will outpace in terms of creative bandwidth than the resources available to execute on them. This presents a perplexing challenge wherein it is in the best interests for a business to maximise resource efficiency to help execute more. Pre-2022, having technical skills was imperative for businesses to execute, and that is an expensive human resource at the cusp of automation with AI models. In short, businesses will want to maximise output, and optimising on effective AI strategy is the fastest path to getting there.

At the heart of this shift lies the emergence of the 10x engineer, that elusive figure who embodies efficiency and ingenuity in equal measure. No longer a myth whispered in tech circles, this individual is a master of synthesis: blending technical fluency with unyielding vision to outpace the competition. Businesses, hungry for innovation yet constrained by resources, now seek these rare talents over armies of specialists. Why assemble a team of ten when one, amplified by AI, can orchestrate symphonies of progress? AI has lowered the barriers that once guarded the gates of creation, making routine tasks accessible to all. In this new reality, the true differentiator is the ability to wield AI as a partner, transforming abstract ideas into tangible outcomes with precision and foresight.

If you think of technical skills and overarching problem-solving skills as a spectrum, the future is transitioning from a 80:20 split to a 20:80 split, where excellent problem solvers who can conceive the end to end roadmap and execute on it independently via the use of AI and agents, will be in demand.