During Sequoia Capital’s “AI Ascent” event, a tech leader made a bold prediction about the future of artificial intelligence in software engineering. When asked how close AI is to being on par with an entry-level engineer, he replied, “Not that far… probably possible in the next year-ish.” This statement aligns with predictions from various tech leaders as AI models continue to improve in coding capabilities and gain popularity among programmers.
The rapid advancement of AI tools is happening amidst significant layoffs in the tech industry, intensifying competition for entry-level engineers. However, the tech leader emphasized that while AI has made significant progress in coding basics, it still needs to develop more comprehensive skills. “This hypothetical virtual engineer needs a better sense of many more things than just writing code in an IDE,” he explained. “It needs to know how to run tests, debug performance issues, and all those kinds of things.”
The process of acquiring these advanced skills, according to the tech leader, will mirror how human engineers learn. “We know how human engineers do those things,” he said. “They learn how to use various tools… and get wisdom from more experienced engineers or reading lots of documentation.” He also highlighted the importance of research and experimentation in this learning process.
“I feel like a junior virtual engineer is going to be pretty good at reading documentation and trying things out in virtual environments,” he stated, suggesting this as a path for AI improvement. The potential impact of “virtual” engineers, he noted, is likely to be significant. “I don’t know how far it will take us, but it seems like it’ll take us pretty far.”
