{"id":790128,"date":"2026-10-02T23:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T23:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790128\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T23:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T23:40:09","slug":"ai-is-changing-developer-work-here-are-three-skills-to-strengthen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790128\/","title":{"rendered":"AI is changing developer work. Here are three skills to strengthen."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is changing how developers work and apply their skills. Writing code is still essential, but developers increasingly need to know how to direct AI, evaluate its output, communicate tradeoffs, and make sound technical decisions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The good news? You can start preparing today. Here\u2019s where to focus:<\/p>\n<p>Tip #1: Learn to direct AI, not just use it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is changing what execution looks like. Increasingly, great execution means defining the problem clearly, providing the right context, evaluating AI-generated code, and deciding what\u2019s ready to ship. As AI agents take on more of the implementation, these skills become even more valuable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, imagine you\u2019re asked to add a new authentication flow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A traditional workflow might look like this:<\/p>\n<p>Task: Add authentication  <\/p>\n<p>\u2192 Create branch<br \/>\n\u2192 Write code<br \/>\n\u2192 Run tests<br \/>\n\u2192 Open pull request<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As AI tools become more capable and more deeply integrated into day-to-day workflows, those same skills can help you coordinate multiple AI agents. Your workflow might look more like this:<\/p>\n<p>Workspace: Add authentication  <\/p>\n<p>Agent 1 \u2713 Authentication ready for review<br \/>\nAgent 2 \u2713 Documentation draft ready<br \/>\nAgent 3 \u2713 Test suite ready<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notice what changed. You\u2019re still responsible for the outcome, but you\u2019re spending less time implementing every piece yourself. Instead, you\u2019re defining the work, reviewing outputs, and making the technical decisions that bring everything together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Takeaway: Learn to direct AI agents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.github.com\/copilot\/how-tos\/github-copilot-app\/getting-started\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Start your first agent session &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tip #2: Don\u2019t trust AI\u2019s first answer<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI can generate impressive solutions in seconds, but the first answer isn\u2019t always the best. Your experience writing clean, maintainable code can help you evaluate AI\u2019s output.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ask a second AI model to critique the first model\u2019s work, then use your own judgment to evaluate both responses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s a prompt that shows what that might look like in practice:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Write a SQL query that returns each customer&#8217;s most recent order.&#8221;<br \/>\n\u2193<br \/>\nAI Model #1<br \/>\n\u2713 Generates the query<br \/>\n\u2193<br \/>\nAI Model #2 (Critique)<br \/>\n\u26a0 Doesn&#8217;t handle duplicate timestamps<br \/>\n\u26a0 Missing index recommendation<br \/>\n\u26a0 May perform poorly on large tables<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Different AI models have different strengths and blind spots. That\u2019s why GitHub Copilot\u2019s built-in Rubber Duck agent uses a second model to critique plans, code, and tests before you move forward. A second perspective often catches issues the first model misses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Takeaway: Trust AI enough to use it but not enough to skip review.<\/p>\n<p>Tip #3: Use AI to solve bigger problems<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When AI saves implementation time, developers can use that time to tackle broader problems: understanding customer needs, evaluating tradeoffs, designing better systems, and making technical decisions that AI can\u2019t make for them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example:<\/p>\n<p>Issue #4821<br \/>\nTitle: Add dark mode <\/p>\n<p>AI <\/p>\n<p>\u2713 Build implementation<br \/>\n\u2713 Generate tests<br \/>\n\u2713 Update documentation <\/p>\n<p>Developer checklist <\/p>\n<p>\u2610 Validate customer problem<br \/>\n\u2610 Review architectural tradeoffs<br \/>\n\u2610 Check accessibility<br \/>\n\u2610 Define success metrics<br \/>\n\u2610 Approve solution <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As AI takes on more implementation work, the skills that distinguish great engineers become even more important: exercising sound judgment, balancing tradeoffs, and solving the right problems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Takeaway: Let AI handle more of the implementation so you can spend more time building the judgment that helps teams make better decisions.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As developer workflows evolve, learning to work effectively with AI\u2014and strengthening your own technical judgment\u2014can help you adapt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.github.com\/copilot\/how-tos\/github-copilot-app\/getting-started\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Put these ideas in practice &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tWritten by\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img class=\"d-block circle\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/94031472.jpeg\" alt=\"Gwen Davis\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Gwen Davis is a senior content strategist at GitHub, where she writes about developer experience, AI-powered workflows, and career growth in tech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI is changing how developers work and apply their skills. Writing code is still essential, but developers increasingly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,24051,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-790128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-career-development","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}