Don’t be cantankerous.<\/p>\n
David Heinemeier Hansson<\/a> has some advice for engineers as they adjust to AI. Often referred to as DHH, Hansson created the webapp framework Ruby on Rails and has fashioned himself into a software sage.<\/p>\n On Monday, Hansson shared his prediction on X: “The age of agents is going to be amazing for most programmers, but it’ll be hard times for the cantankerous ones.”<\/p>\n Hansson wrote that special abilities won’t save those who are difficult to work with. That would be a dramatic shift in software engineering, where some so-called “cracked” coders<\/a> can get away with large egos or social awkwardness.<\/p>\n “Best learn some basic people skills,” Hansson wrote.<\/p>\n The prediction sparked a conversation among engineers about their social habits and professionalism. One pointed out the irony: agents “don’t care how cantankerous you are,” but your human coworkers do.<\/p>\n One user wrote a eulogy to the “guy whose whole job security was ‘only I know how this works.'” <\/p>\n Dart cofounder Zack Swafford wrote that teams only tolerated bad attitudes because the staffers had “arcane tribal knowledge.”<\/p>\n Others questioned how new the change was. People skills have long been valuable, from networking your way into a job<\/a> to landing that big promotion.<\/p>\n Want more Business Insider in your news feed?<\/p>\n \n Add BI in Google so our reporting is easier to find when you\u2019re searching for what matters.\n <\/p>\n “Been true in every company forever,” one X user commented. “Skills get you hired, being easy to work with keeps you around. Agents just make it obvious faster.”<\/p>\n