Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s Chief Product Officer, offers a reassuring yet forward-looking perspective for engineers amid the rapid rise of AI. Contrary to fears that AI might replace engineering jobs, Patel emphasizes that engineers remain in high demand—Cisco itself employs about 27,000 engineers and is actively hiring more. The real shift, he explains, is in how engineers will work and the skills they’ll need.
AI tools like OpenAI’s Codex, which can write code, debug, and run tests, are already transforming workflows. Patel predicts that in the next five years, engineers won’t need to memorize every line of code or perfect syntax. Instead, they’ll focus on:
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Orchestrating agent workflows: This means managing and coordinating a team of AI tools and human collaborators effectively—deciding which tasks to delegate to AI and which require human judgment. This skill is about designing seamless workflows that blend AI automation with human creativity.
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Generating high-quality ideas: As AI handles more repetitive coding tasks, engineers’ value will come from creativity and innovative thinking. Patel believes AI tools will unleash engineers’ imagination, enabling companies to bring ideas to life faster than ever before.
In fact, Patel foresees a productivity boom, suggesting AI could make engineers 10 to 50 times more productive, compressing what used to take months into minutes. This could make engineering work not only faster but more rewarding, with creativity as the main constraint rather than coding speed or volume.
Other leaders, like Dropbox’s Morgan Brown, echo this view, highlighting the importance of deep, thoughtful work and idea generation in the AI era. So while AI changes the tools and methods, the demand for skilled, imaginative engineers remains very much alive—just evolving toward new capabilities centered around creativity and workflow management.
