AI writes 90% of the code at this company. It still can't hire enough engineers.

• At CIQ, AI now writes over 90% of code, yet demand for senior software engineers is soaring.
• CIQ execs Hovland and Kurtzer warn AI is reducing demand for more junior developers.
• The execs urge young coders to master systems, embrace AI coding tools, and judge results closely.

AI Insider went to Salt Lake City this week for The Great Coding Reset, a live event about the future of software engineering.

What we heard was both encouraging and alarming for tech workers. If you want to attend our next one in Vegas on Dec. 1, sign up here.

At CIQ, a company that helps businesses run complex computing systems, AI now writes more than 90% of the code, according to president Bjorn Hovland.

You might think that means fewer human programmers are needed. Not quite.

"Two or three years ago I expected that we might never have to hire another engineer," Hovland told my colleague Ben Bergman. "We found the exact opposite. We cannot hire enough engineers now."

There's a catch. CIQ wants experienced programmers, not beginners.

"We hire almost no junior devs," Hovland said, adding that he didn't think the company had hired anyone with less than five to 10 years of experience.

Why? AI can produce mountains of code, but someone still needs to know whether it works. That's especially important when your customers include major companies and governments.

CIQ founder Gregory Kurtzer offered a striking example of AI's power. He said he used it to build a Linux-compatible operating system kernel — software that controls how a computer works — in just 11 days.

"It should scare people a little bit," he said.

Kurtzer believes experienced engineers using AI can become vastly more productive. He also warned that programmers who resist AI, because they love writing code themselves, risk falling behind.

The message for tech workers is complicated. AI is eliminating some programming tasks while creating more demand for people who understand deeply how software works.

And this goes beyond programming. Whether you're making videos, writing software, or doing other knowledge work, the valuable skill is increasingly knowing what to create and how to judge the results — rather than doing every step yourself.

But here's the troubling question: If companies stop hiring junior programmers, where will the next generation of experienced engineers come from?

Hovland's advice to young people: Build lots of your own software projects and learn how systems work under the hood.

Good advice. But the traditional career ladder into software engineering may be getting harder to climb.

Sign up for the AI Insider newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at [email protected]