"The engineer of the future is the person who is able to choose what is worth doing." — Addy Osmani

For his closing keynote, Addy Osmani explores the evolving role of software engineers in the age of AI agents. He argues that as coding tasks become increasingly automated, the true value of an engineer shifts from mere code production to accountability, judgment, and system ownership.

https://addyosmani.com/
https://x.com/addyosmani/status/2074927530482835916

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction and the human side of engineering
1:46 Rebundling roles and ownership of systems
2:34 Harnesses, loop engineering, and software factories
3:34 The shift to answerability as an engineering requirement
4:26 Reviewing AI-assisted code and organizational bottlenecks
5:55 Redefining leverage through human judgment
6:15 Alpha, decay, and the role of "taste"
8:49 Defining the modern software engineer
9:50 Risks to avoid: cognitive debt and surrender
11:51 Orchestration tax and system design
12:39 Accountability as the foundation for scaling
13:16 Career math: credibility vs. capability
14:13 High agency and the decision-making ladder
15:13 Defining the boundary between agents and humans
16:13 Operational rule: explain it or don't ship it
17:20 Future outlook: unlocking latent demand