Aparna Chennapragada, Microsoft’s chief product officer for experiences and devices, recently pushed back against the idea that coding is becoming obsolete due to AI. On Lenny’s Podcast, she emphasized that learning to code remains crucial, even though the nature of coding is evolving with higher levels of abstraction. She highlighted that programming languages have always moved toward simplification—moving from assembly to C and now to more abstracted ways to instruct computers, making programming more accessible and democratic.
Chennapragada explained that AI won’t replace software engineers but will change their roles, possibly creating more “software operators” who work at these higher abstraction layers. She sees computer science not just as a set of skills but as a way of thinking and mental modeling that will continue to be valuable.
She also addressed the shifting role of project managers amid AI-driven innovation. With AI enabling an explosion of ideas and prototypes, project managers will need to sharpen their ability to filter and curate the most valuable outputs, focusing on “taste-making and editing” rather than traditional gatekeeping. This reflects a broader “great flattening” in Big Tech, where middle management layers are shrinking as teams become more agile and autonomous.
However, this optimistic perspective contrasts sharply with recent events at Microsoft. Just days after Chennapragada’s remarks, Microsoft announced layoffs affecting about 6,000 employees globally. Internal data showed that over 40% of layoffs in Washington state were software engineers, raising concerns about the future of human coders in a company rapidly integrating AI into development workflows.
One striking example is Jeff Hulse, a Microsoft VP leading a large engineering team who had pushed for heavy adoption of OpenAI tools to generate up to 50% of code—well above the usual 20–30%. Soon after, many engineers on his team were laid off, creating an unsettling narrative that these developers may have helped build tools that contributed to their own displacement.
CEO Satya Nadella has celebrated AI’s role in boosting productivity, noting that in some projects up to a third of the code is now AI-generated. But for those affected by layoffs, this technological progress feels more like a corporate cost-cutting measure than a clear win for engineers.
Additionally, Microsoft’s layoffs did not spare project and technical program managers, despite Chennapragada’s assertion that such roles would persist by adapting to new demands. Even some employees directly involved in AI initiatives were cut, indicating a broader organizational restructuring.
