Cisco President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel says software engineers need to focus on two critical skills as artificial intelligence reshapes the industry: orchestrating agent workflow and generating quality ideas. Speaking to Business Insider, Patel identified these capabilities as “grossly underestimated” despite their growing importance in an AI-driven workplace.“We feel more constrained now than ever before on not having enough engineers to get prosecuted all the ideas that we’ve got going internally,” Patel said, noting that Cisco employs 27,000 engineers and is “unapologetically hiring” more. However, he acknowledges AI will fundamentally change engineering roles, particularly as tools like OpenAI’s Codex automate repetitive coding tasks.
From writing code to directing AI agents
Patel expects traditional coding syntax knowledge to become less consequential within five years. “Understanding the nuanced details of syntax in coding language will still be important, but there will be less emphasis on it in the future,” he explained. Instead, engineers will need to master “orchestrating agent workflow” – overseeing AI agents that communicate with each other to solve complex problems.“That will be super important,” Patel emphasized about workflow orchestration, comparing it to managing teams where understanding which tasks suit AI versus humans becomes crucial.
When Imagination becomes the only constraint
The second essential skill involves generating high-quality ideas. Patel believes AI augmentation will make engineers “10 to 50 times as productive,” enabling product development timelines to shrink “from months to minutes.” This efficiency boost means “the scarcity of developers” won’t constrain innovation, but idea quality will determine success.“The only constraint becomes their imagination,” Patel said, arguing that AI tools “unlock” human creativity rather than replace it. As coding becomes more automated, engineers who can conceptualize innovative solutions will become increasingly valuable, positioning creativity as the new competitive advantage in software development.
