The is a problem in software engineering and that is that the mediocre people who were doing the hiring before AI are still doing the hiring after AI, but now they think they are good engineers. Yes, they can focus more on things like being a people manager potentially, but not every organization would support that. You have more time now? Okay, you get a second team to manage as well now – at least that’s what I’d expect of a company that went full on into using AI to develop every day. What really happens is they feel more confident now that they are using AI. Wrote bad code? Nope, AI did it. “We just need more AI to make sure it checks the other AI, to see if it did a good job. meeehhh” Problem solved?

Not really. Let’s say using an AI to write and review the code makes them produce better code, great. Now they don’t have the fear like they had their whole lives when someone tells them their code is wrong. They think they are good engineers now because no one is slapping them on the wrist anymore.

And they start to think: “now, I don’t even have to be a good engineer. AI is taking care of that and I can focus on… hiring.” Well, not really, but many of them have changed how they hire. They expect you to be using AI like they do. It made them a good engineer, so if you do what they did, then you will be a good engineer too, right?

Umm… no.

You still need to understand how the concepts for the platforms you use work. You really should still be able to read code, so a conscious human is signing off on what’s going out the door. You still need to be able to make good design and architectural decisions. You still need to know how basic security works and what packages to pick.

But AI didn’t fix any of those things…

The hiring managers are just more confident now and contribute more to the companies AI bill. So they ask you on the application: “hOW dO YOu uSE ai EVerY DaY?! bleh bleh bleh.” Bro, shut the fuck up. All Yyu need to know is if I can do the job or not – not how. That’s my problem. So sorry if I didn’t tell ChatGPT to remind me to shave my asshole tonight. It doesn’t mean I hate AI or can’t use it. You focus on hiring talented people and I’ll focus on how much you still suck at your job.