How Software Engineers Really Feel About AI Coding - Business Insider

Business Insider's article, part of its "The Great Coding Reset" series, delves into the significant ways artificial intelligence is reshaping the field of software engineering. It notes that AI has fundamentally changed the nature of coding, with many developers no longer viewing writing code as their primary role. Although a 2025 survey suggested a largely positive view among developers towards AI coding tools, the article indicates that current sentiments are far more nuanced, encompassing enthusiastic adoption, cautious skepticism, and mixed feelings among professionals. The piece illustrates these varied perspectives through examples like Dmitry Olev, a software engineer who, despite experiencing a layoff, maintains an optimistic outlook on AI. Olev perceives AI as a powerful tool for boosting productivity and fostering innovation, drawing an analogy between developers and orchestra conductors who guide and assess AI's contributions rather than performing every task directly. He also anticipates that as AI technology advances, the necessity for manual error correction will diminish. The article touches on related themes such as AI's influence on productivity, the evolving challenges of managing AI tokens, and shifts in the job market, where human skills like judgment, design, and accountability are gaining importance over repetitive coding functions.