What Microsoft's top executive said to all software engineers ....
In a recent Bloomberg chat, Aparna Chennapragada (Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer for Experiences & Devices) shot down the idea that AI might soon make human coders obsolete. She didn’t hold back: “Betting against computer science now?” she said. “That’s like betting against reading when the printing press showed up in the 1400s.”
Her point? Just because tech changes how we build things doesn’t mean the core skill loses its power. AI might handle chunks of the grunt work, but understanding code, like reading, is becoming more essential, not less.
As a mobile app developer with over 5 years of experience, my personal opinion is that we simply use AI as a tool to make ourselves better. AI is good at writing new code, but working with existing code, debugging, and all the real work of a software engineer? AI can't do that effectively yet. Yeah, it might handle small bug fixes here and there, but not on bigger projects.
Great take, Akhil — totally agree that AI is more like a superpower for devs, not a replacement. It’s especially powerful in areas that used to eat up time, like documentation or staying compliant.
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