Bye-bye Coders: Why Product Engineers Are the Future

When I graduated in the mid 2000s, it was all about coding skills - algorithms, efficient sorting procedures, complex SQL. But things are changing. AI can now do all of this (for the most part) much better than humans, but it still struggles with understanding systems and wider context. Copilot and Cursor are like over-confident graduate developers; genius level children who jump at quick fixes without considering the big picture - without the wisdom and intuition that only decades building and maintaining large scale systems can provide.

Like an enthusiastic genius graduate though, this AI can be highly useful when guided by seasoned engineers.

And things are changing fast. Where we are now is akin to the internet in 1999, only just out of nappies but still changing the world. In 10 - 20 years time the landscape will be vastly different - as will the skills we need to thrive.

Bye-bye Coders: Welcome the Product Engineer

AI tools like Copilot and Cursor will lose their training wheels and start to do a good job of understanding large scale legacy systems and code bases. Tools like v0 are already great at prototyping and iteration, but they will become the go-to for application development. Perhaps teams of AI 'agents' will work together to understand and improve large scale legacy systems in a similar way to how human-based agile teams do now.

These systems will not work on their own though - they will need design, guidance and oversight by Product Engineers - people who understand the business purpose behind the systems, as well as the architecture, security, testing and maintenance. Where traditional engineers wrote code, Product Engineers will design systems and ensure outputs align with business goals and technical standards.

We’re at the beginning of a new era. The winners will be those who embrace AI not as a threat, but as a collaborator, redefining their role in the process.