S3E5 - Industry Insight: Changing Landscape, with Steve Orrin
Show Notes
In the first part of our series on Industry Insights, we're joined by Steve Orrin; the Federal CTO of Intel Corporation. Together we talk about the changing financial and technological landscape, and what a Developer can do do stay ahead of the curve!
Synopsis
As this is an interview piece, instead of a full transcript I’d like to highlight some of the high notes from the Interview. Please do listen to the full segment as there is so much value covered there that it would be impossible to list it all.
The lay of the land is changing! Economic downturn means layoffs are happening, and they’re affecting tenured devs as well as newbies. Combined with the fear of the great tidal wave of AI that’s approaching, many Software Engineers fear for their jobs and livelihood. There’s nothing to fear though; new challenges mean new opportunities.
Startups are increasing hiring to soak up the talent leaked from MAANG.
Government is also increasing hiring. Interesting problems at scale, with great benefits!
Disruptive technology like ChatGPT, Bard etc. won’t replace developers. AI won’t take your jobs, but engineers who use AI will! GPT etc. giving Code Reviews, Security Analysis and Guidance on problems means the Devs who leverage them will get ahead.
AI is a tool, not an evil agent, and it’s here to help you be more efficient, automate the (stupid stuff / grunt work), and to speed you up. Devs will still need to think, evaluate and use their knowledge to deliver the feature/product. Embrace and adopt it!
For developers to move through the downturn, they need to develop the following soft skills:
Getting ahead of new technology. Don’t wait for it to arrive at your desk! Keep up-to-date, research, become an early adopter. As new tools and technologies ebb-and-flow into the industry; becoming the expert and being able to advise for/against them means you become a more crucial strategic piece for your company/organization. Become the new Subject Matter Expert!
Having a deep understanding of where the code is deployed and used, and most importantly - by whom! Understanding the customers’ needs and requirements and speaking their language makes you a better developer. It guides you on what’s important in your deliverables and what is just fluff. It also means that you can anticipate the innovation and use cases they’ll need down the line and prepare for that.
Speaking “customer”, and being able to translate requirements to functionality is an invaluable skill!
Programmers that can act as the bridge between worlds are the ones that are building the next-gen systems and tooling.
Team members who are nimble (e.g. who don’t hide in their role) means a team that’s much more fluid in it’s ability to seek and deliver success. Being able to shift between being a collaborative team-player to deep-work IC as needs arise is a key quality for the highest performing teams. Diversity of talent and experience will always make for great results!
Juniors who are either entering the industry or suddenly overwhelmed with the shift can do the following to keep moving:
Find Mentors and suck them dry! Listen, consume everything they say, ask questions and seek their guidance.
Technical Mentors, Business Mentors, Communication, etc. - find experts in all domains and learn to listen to them.
Getting your hands dirty as often as possible. Trail and error and the fastest ways to learn! Fear of failure never got anyone anywhere.
If you’re looking for a recession-proof skill - Cyber security is always a sure bet. There’s also always something new to find, battle and fix!
In good times, you’ll have more assets of value worth protecting.
In bad times, bad actors attack more and you need to protect corporate IP!
Mentioned in this episode is the book Good to Great, by Jim Collins. Worth a look!