There has been constant debate about how AI will transform the workplace. Coding is a job that made me feel this deep in my heart.
Business Insider sought to understand exactly how profound this transformation has been, for better, for worse, and in many cases both.
We wanted to talk to engineers about their emotions and experiences: their excitement and anxieties, their daily work, and their career prospects. Has AI increased productivity? Were their skills still useful? And how has new technology changed the way we interact with our bosses and colleagues?
The result is “The Greatcoding Reset,” a six-part series documenting this transformative moment when AI coding tools are reshaping everyday workflows, corporate strategies, and what it means to be a software engineer.
Here’s what we learned:
Be amazed by the incredible speed of AI
Things move fast in technology, and even faster when it comes to AI. That was a big challenge when trying to capture the moment.
In early May, tokenmaxxing (the concept of using AI wherever possible) started going mainstream. Companies have turned the use of AI into a friendly competition using leaderboards. The tokens flowed. Endless experimentation was encouraged.
Just a few weeks later, Uber’s COO said it was difficult to justify rising token costs, and Amazon shut down its internal leaderboards. By June, companies focused on reining in ballooning budgets.
The engineers kept us informed of everything in real time. Their perspectives and experiences changed over weeks and even days. This breakneck pace meant a spike in productivity, a surge in experimentation, and in some cases developers leaving the industry altogether.
Engineers are not monolithic
Discussions about AI are framed around worst-case and best-case scenarios. So either AI destroys all jobs or it creates a utopian society. When you talk to those on the front lines, their feelings are often even more complicated.
For all the software engineers who are worried about AI automating some of their favorite jobs, we’re talking about how they’re spending their weekends happily building with new tools. One developer said they can do more with AI, but is wary of giving it too much control.
We found similar nuances reflected in the research we collected during the series’ run. One respondent said that AI has made their jobs “worse in many ways.” Others disagreed, with one saying technology has allowed them to solve more complex problems while feeling in control of the process.
The future of young developers remains uncertain
Many engineers now become AI managers, spending their days reviewing code generated by AI and fixing mistakes. As companies scrutinize AI techniques, what it takes to land a coding job has also changed. This also means that developers increasingly wear multiple hats and work across disciplines.
The big question is what these changes mean for people new to the profession. Senior engineers often have the technical experience to understand how AI works, so they can get the most out of it. If AI is taking over many of the tasks once done by junior talent, such as debugging and creating simple features, how will people gain the same level of technical know-how?
There are lessons for all white-collar workers.
AI computation was first introduced to software engineers, causing job disruption, if not job destruction.
As a result, developers are rapidly learning new skills, focusing on the more human and irreplaceable parts of their jobs, and in some cases deciding they can make a greater impact elsewhere.
There is no guarantee that the rest of white-collar jobs will be similarly exposed to AI. Is the code correct or incorrect? Other tasks are often tedious.
As our colleague Alistair Barr writes, AI is now everyone’s job. But even if other jobs don’t change so fundamentally, there are lessons for the broader workforce about flexibility, adaptability, and what brings value to our work.
The rest of us need to take note.
You can read the rest of the series below. If any of these articles resonate with you, or if you would like to share your own story about how AI will change your industry, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below or email us at: rscammell@insider.com and jherbst@insider.com.