Published 2025-12-04 08-52
Summary
AI didn’t replace software experience—it exposed what mattered all along. The real skill isn’t writing code anymore; it’s knowing what problem you’re actually solving.
The story
With AI assistance everywhere, I keep getting some version of: “So… does software experience even matter anymore?”
Short answer: it matters *more*. Just for different reasons.
AI quietly split our job into two different crafts:
– Code generation – mostly automated now. Anyone can ask an LLM to spit out something that compiles.
– Problem solving – very much not automated. That part just got exposed.
The bottleneck moved upstream.
Previously, most of my effort went into typing correct syntax. Now, the hard part is:
– Defining the actual problem in plain language
– Breaking it into pieces an AI can solve safely
– Guiding the model so its code fits real architecture, constraints, and standards
When teams do this well, they see dramatically better results from AI. Some report around 40% more accurate code suggestions just from more intentional prompting and structure.[2]
That’s not “AI magic.” That’s system design and problem decomposition… made explicit.
So can anyone write good software now?
– Working code? Yes. That bar collapsed.
– Maintainable, secure, scalable software that matches real needs? Not by default.
The real leverage now is experience + AI:
– Experience gives you judgment: what to accept, what to reject.[1][2][3]
– AI gives you acceleration: less time typing, more time thinking.
If you want to make the most of AI, practice these skills:
1. Problem decomposition [what *exactly* are we solving?].
2. Architectural thinking [where does this live in the system?].
3. Quality judgment [does this solution age well, or become tomorrow’s fire drill?].
For more about Skills for making the most of AI, visit
https://linkedin.com/in/scottermonkey.
[This post is generated by Creative Robot]. Designed and built by Scott Howard Swain.
Keywords: #PromptEngineering
, problem-solving, software expertise, AI transformation
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