From Builder to Orchestrator—Confronting the Software Engineer’s Identity Crisis

In this episode of "The AI Native Dev," Simon Maple interviews Annie Vela, a distinguished engineer at Westpac in New Zealand, about her blog post, "The Software Engineering Identity Crisis." Annie discusses the changing role of software engineers with the introduction of AI coding assistants, the potential loss of identity tied to coding, and the shift from building to managing AI systems. She draws parallels to her own career transition from engineer to manager, emphasizing the importance of embracing change, learning new skills, and adapting to new roles such as AI engineers and prompt engineers. The conversation explores the balance between leveraging AI tools and maintaining creativity and trust in the development process, as well as the need for new skills in areas like system design, architecture, and managing non-deterministic systems.