Claim◆Article
Coding is only a small part of software engineering, and it's a part that AI won't erase the rest of: through your work you also build confidence, make connections with other people, and develop your personal understanding of the domain, none of which disappear just because coding gets automated.
Kent Beck rejects the idea that AI automating code will end software engineering, arguing coding is only a small slice of the job compared to building trust, relationships, and domain understanding. ✦ AI generated
Kent Beck · The Pragmatic Engineer · 2026-07-01 · original ↗
Kent rebuts the claim that coding – and eventually the whole software engineering craft – will vanish. He believes coding is only part of what we do, and a small part of it, too. Through your work, you also build confidence, make connections with other people, and develop your personal understanding of the domain.
Read full article ↗excerpt · fair-use quotation
- ·Kent Beck rebuts claim that AI ends software engineering
- ·Coding is just one part of the craft
- ·And it's a small part, he argues
- ·Your work also builds confidence over time
- ·It creates connections with other people
- ·It deepens personal understanding of the domain
- ·Automating code doesn't erase these other outputs
- ·Confidence, relationships, domain knowledge remain human-built
- ·So software engineering itself won't vanish
Around this claim
Evidence · 2
Personality traits and motivation, especially high agency, matter more than existing coding skill when hiring — his best recent hire was an undergrad with little coding experience who can learn anything within a week.NeetCode (Navdeep Singh) · The Pragmatic Engineer · conf 60%Despite dramatic improvements in AI model performance, the majority of engineers will not be laid off — if anything, developers are busier than ever.NeetCode (Navdeep Singh) · The Pragmatic Engineer · conf 60%
This moment responds to
explains mechanism → Despite dramatic improvements in AI model performance, the majority of engineers will not be laid off — if anything, developers are busier than ever.NeetCode (Navdeep Singh) · The Pragmatic Engineersupports → Your ability to affect change in the world is gated by your ability to communicate with, soothe, and understand other human beings — not by mastering the computer, which is the opposite of what young engineers are promised.Kent Beck · The Pragmatic Engineer