Software engineers are some of the most highly valued talent at any technology company, so why have they suddenly become one of the most vulnerable tribes in the AI boom?
In a recent episode of “The Pragmatic Engineer,” renowned software engineer Kent Beck gave a very straightforward answer. “We’re kind of shitty people sometimes.”
Software engineers, regardless of their level of technical expertise, tend to lack some of the soft skills valued in the workplace, he said.
“We don’t necessarily have great emotion regulation skills. We don’t necessarily have natural empathy,” he said. “We’re often more direct than other people can easily deal with.” At the very least, these are some of the more “scary” traits of the typical software engineer, he said.
As AI changes everything, these softer skills could make or break your technical career.
As more and more code is written by AI, companies are asking engineers to review, direct, and manage the work that AI generates, rather than writing every line themselves. Vibecoding is now a common practice in the software industry, allowing experienced programmers to build prototypes more quickly and allowing those with no prototyping experience to turn ideas into pilots.
Additionally, the lines between engineering and product work are becoming blurred. Amol Avasare, head of growth at Anthropic, told Business Insider that engineers using tools like Claude Code are two to three times more productive, putting new pressure on product managers and designers.
This means that companies are now increasingly asking software engineers to take on more product management tasks that require more interaction with human colleagues.
For smaller projects, he said, Anthropic already asks engineers to serve as “mini PMs,” responsible for not only the code but also stakeholder coordination and cross-functional work. The rise of this hybrid “product engineer” role suggests that the most valuable engineers may be those who can combine technical knowledge with product acumen and people skills.
Kent described the need for programmers to learn interpersonal skills as a “cosmic prank.”
He says that when you start coding, you just have to learn everything about this computer and you’ll be fine. “And, I’m sorry, there’s a human side, and your ability to affect change in the world depends on your ability to communicate and empathize.”