While you can certainly just read this as “what do I actually do now?” Question for Software Engineers, I do think LLMs have carved out a more definitive need for defining the difference between engineering and programming. If programming is just creating code, engineering is how we organize and iterate on it.
My hope here is that we’re shifting out into programming as something that can both a hobby and a career. Similar to building or DIY things, there’s plenty of room for both personal and professional uses of building things with code.
There’s just been some much money in Software Engineering that folks have defaulted into this being the main usage of time for anyone who knows how to code. What happens when the barrier to entry of this sort of thing is cheaper and cheaper? What if the thing you’re building is just for you and doesn’t have the be a money maker?
This is - ironically - where a lot of engineering muscle can be built. My experience in university was never about them teaching me to code. Rather, it was about the engineering practices that drive how code is built, structured, and iterated on. When academia struggles to keep pace with all of this modern change, I hope that they realize they have a wealth of knowledge and value teaching that this area.
What we miss - when focusing on university stuff - is that businesses and leaders are often struggling to adjust to this new reality - as well. How can you tell a prospect out of college is going to be successful? We can’t rely on the old rubric and true seasoning from engineering comes from building stuff. There’s still a huge amount of interviewing spent on the old way of doing things - ex. “Solve this problem in x language”. There’s use for this, but it can often feel ancient when the actual job involves prompting and building with pieces of code. I haven’t seen an interview structure that best captures both technical and engineering skill - in the modern world.
Updated on October 21, 2026