Artificial intelligence is beginning to change more than how people work. It is also changing the skills companies look for when hiring new employees. According to 17 technology executives who recently discussed AI agents at a dinner in San Francisco, businesses are rethinking which workers they need as AI takes over more everyday tasks.
The executives, who came from companies including Zoom, Figma, ServiceNow, Glean and Netlify, said they were already using multiple AI agents in their daily work. Their discussion highlighted a growing shift in the workplace: companies may need fewer people for routine tasks while placing greater value on experience, technical judgment and the ability to work with AI tools.
The conversation, reported by Business Insider’s AI Insider newsletter, also raised questions about what this shift could mean for junior employees and mid-career professionals. While AI agents can help teams complete work faster, companies still need people who can check their output, solve difficult problems and make important decisions.
AI Agents Are Becoming Part of Everyday Work
AI agents are software systems that can carry out tasks with limited human involvement. Depending on the tools available to them, they can write code, search for information, manage workflows, respond to requests and complete several connected steps to reach a goal.
At the San Francisco dinner, journalist Alistair Barr asked the executives whether an AI agent had helped them with work that day. Every attendee raised a hand. When he asked whether they had used more than five AI agents, every hand remained raised.
The response suggests how quickly these tools are becoming part of daily work for some technology leaders. Instead of using AI only to answer questions or write short pieces of text, employees are increasingly experimenting with systems that can complete larger tasks.
However, getting these systems to produce useful results remains a challenge. Executives repeatedly highlighted the importance of context, meaning an AI agent needs to understand a company’s work, information, goals and existing processes before it can make useful contributions.
For example, an AI agent that can write code may still struggle if it does not understand why a product was built, how its different parts work together or what customers need from it.
Companies May Start Hiring Differently
One of the most important parts of the discussion was how AI agents could change hiring decisions, particularly in software engineering.
Several executives described a hiring approach that combines experienced engineers with younger workers who are comfortable using AI tools. Under this approach, companies would rely on experienced employees to review AI-generated work, identify mistakes and make decisions that require deeper technical knowledge.
Younger employees who can use AI effectively could also bring value by completing tasks faster and adapting to new ways of working.
Josh Clemm, Figma’s vice president of engineering, raised concerns about the pressure this shift could place on mid-career engineers. As companies reorganise teams and rely more heavily on AI, some may prefer a smaller number of experienced engineers alongside employees who can use AI tools effectively.
This could create a difficult situation for professionals who have several years of experience but have not yet moved into senior positions.
The discussion does not mean that every technology company will adopt the same hiring strategy. However, it shows how AI agents are encouraging employers to reconsider traditional team structures and the skills they value most.
Writing Code May No Longer Be Enough
Netlify CEO Matt Biilmann argued that writing code is becoming less valuable as a standalone skill because AI tools can increasingly handle parts of the coding process.
Instead, he pointed to domain expertise and software judgment as skills that could become more important. Domain expertise means understanding a particular industry, product or business problem. Software judgment involves deciding how a system should work, which solutions make sense and whether the final result is reliable.
AI can help generate code, but someone still needs to decide whether that code solves the right problem. Engineers also need to identify errors, consider security risks and ensure that different parts of a system work together.
This change could affect how companies evaluate job applicants. Employers may place greater emphasis on practical problem-solving, the ability to review AI-generated results and an understanding of the products they are building.
For job seekers, the lesson is that learning to write code remains useful, but combining technical knowledge with critical thinking and AI skills could offer an advantage.
Junior Workers Could Face a Tougher Start
The shift towards AI agents could also affect people entering the technology industry for the first time. Entry-level employees often begin with tasks such as writing basic code, fixing simple errors, testing software and updating documentation. These assignments help them gain experience before moving on to more complex responsibilities.
As AI agents become better at handling routine work, companies may have fewer reasons to hire large numbers of junior employees for these tasks. This could make it harder for new graduates to find their first jobs or gain the experience needed to progress.
Separate research from Gartner adds weight to this concern. A July 2026 survey found that 22% of chief human resources officers said at least one business leader in their organisation had stopped hiring for entry-level roles because of AI automation.
The finding does not mean that 22% of all entry-level jobs have disappeared. It shows that AI automation is already influencing hiring decisions at some organisations.
The longer-term challenge is how companies will train new workers if AI takes over many of the tasks traditionally used to build experience. Employers may need to create new training opportunities that help junior staff learn through more complex assignments, AI-assisted projects and closer guidance from experienced colleagues.
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Human Judgment Still Matters
Although AI agents can complete an increasing number of tasks, the executives’ discussion also highlighted the limits of these systems.
AI agents need access to relevant information and a clear understanding of what a company wants to achieve. They can also produce incorrect results or struggle with problems that require knowledge of a particular business.
Human employees therefore remain important for setting goals, checking results and deciding when an AI-generated answer should not be trusted.
This is particularly relevant in software development, where a mistake can affect product performance, security or customer data. Faster work does not automatically mean better work, and companies must still ensure that AI-generated output meets their standards.
For employers, the challenge is finding the right balance between automation and human expertise. For workers, it means learning how to use AI without relying on it to make every decision.
What Job Seekers Can Do to Prepare
The executives’ comments point to a workplace in which AI skills are becoming more useful, but technical knowledge and professional experience still matter.
People looking for jobs can prepare by learning how AI tools fit into their chosen field. Software engineers, for example, can practise using AI coding assistants while checking their output, testing the results and understanding the code they produce.
Job seekers in other fields can explore how AI agents support research, data analysis, customer service and routine administrative work. The aim should be to understand where these tools save time and where human review remains necessary.
It is also worth developing skills that AI tools cannot reliably supply on their own, including communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and an understanding of business needs.
For early-career workers, building practical experience will remain important. Personal projects, internships, open-source contributions and real-world assignments can help demonstrate that a candidate knows how to apply technical knowledge rather than simply use AI to produce an answer.
AI Agents Could Reshape the Career Ladder
The discussion among the 17 executives offers a glimpse of how the technology industry may change as AI agents become more common. Companies are exploring ways to automate routine work, reorganise teams and hire people who can combine experience with AI skills.
The biggest question is how these changes will affect the traditional career path. If AI handles more of the basic work that once helped junior employees learn, businesses will need new ways to develop future senior engineers and technical leaders.
For now, the executives’ experiences should not be taken as proof that AI agents will eliminate jobs across the entire technology industry. Their comments reflect the direction some companies are exploring, rather than a settled outcome for every employer.
Still, the message for workers is becoming clearer. Knowing how to use AI tools may help, but understanding the work, checking the results and making sound decisions could be just as important as the ability to complete tasks quickly.