We should get back to the basic definition of the engineering job. An engineer understands requirements, translates them into logical flows that can be automated, communicates tradeoffs across the organization, and makes tradeoff calls on maintainability, extensibility, readability, and security. Most importantly, they’re accountable for the outcome, because many tradeoffs only reveal their cost once they hit reality
None of this is covered by code generation, nor by juniors submitting random PRs. Those are symptoms of juniors (not only) missing fundamentals.
When we forget what the job actually is, we create misalignment with junior engineers and end up with weird ideas like "spec-driven development"
If anything, coding agents are a wake-up call that clarify what engineering profession is really about
None of this is covered by code generation, nor by juniors submitting random PRs. Those are symptoms of juniors (not only) missing fundamentals. When we forget what the job actually is, we create misalignment with junior engineers and end up with weird ideas like "spec-driven development"
If anything, coding agents are a wake-up call that clarify what engineering profession is really about