Beyond Coding: Why AI Makes Systems Thinking More Important For Engineers
Executive Take
If AI writes the code, your mid-level engineers stop learning system design the old way. Without a deliberate plan to teach it, you'll have senior architects and juniors with no bridge between them, and security risk nobody owns.
Executive Summary
At Inc42's CTO Summit 2026, Naukri.com CTO Arvind Heda, Acko's Vishwanath Ramarao, and IDfy CEO Ashok Hariharan discussed how AI is shrinking mid-level engineering roles. Hariharan warned of a growing skills gap between senior architects and junior developers, and said poor-quality AI-generated code could expose major security flaws. Cashfree's CTO noted testing infrastructure spend now exceeds AI tool spend.
Why It Matters
Technology leaders need a plan to teach systems thinking now that AI has removed the daily coding practice that used to build it. HR leaders should rethink engineering career ladders since the traditional junior-to-senior path is breaking down.
Bizquad Perspective
Most companies are measuring AI coding tools by output speed, but the real cost shows up later as a generation of engineers who can't debug or design systems they didn't build.