The technology sector is experiencing a profound evolution, propelled by the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and “The Great Flattening,” which is focused on efficiencies by reducing management layers. Drawing from my experience as an engineering manager at Amazon, I maintain a confident outlook on the prospects for software engineers. These developments, while introducing complexities, simultaneously present avenues for professional advancement and innovation. This article outlines my take on effectively navigating this dynamic landscape and propelling your career.
The Key Industry Trends
You’ve probably heard of “The Great Flattening.” In 2024, companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta started cutting middle management to make things more efficient. As a manager, I’ve felt this shift firsthand. Suddenly, there are fewer layers, and while it’s streamlined decision-making, it’s also changed how we think about career growth. But here’s the good news: for engineers, this doesn’t directly impact our day-to-day work. We’re still building, innovating, and solving problems.
Then there’s GenAI. I was skeptical initially when I first heard tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg predict that AI could replace mid-level engineers by 2025 or when Google CEO mentioned that 25% of Google’s new code is already AI-generated but as of now, you may have also experienced this first hand on what Gen AI coding agents can do. As per
Strategic Approaches for Career Advancement
It’s more than coding
Although determining the exact percentage impact of coding is a bit tricky, it typically accounts for 20-40% of the total effort. The rest of software development involves critical activities like planning, stakeholder collaboration, system design, deployment, and monitoring. Senior engineers can focus heavily on architecture and strategy, which can significantly outweigh raw coding in impact. Often, senior engineers get less time to code because they are more focused on the larger, more strategic items like implementing complex systems, ensuring their scalability, reliability, and efficiency, etc. They translate business objectives into technical strategies.
So although coding is important, there is a lot more to growing your career than just coding, and you need to focus on those areas. My advice – use Gen AI to its full potential so that you can free up your time in coding and focus more on other areas, which we will talk more of.
Develop Excellence and Deliver Consistently
Your focus should be on making excellent software. Develop deep expertise in your domain and deliver results on time. You establish trust with your manager and become the go-to person for their critical projects. Results matter, and once you start delivering consistently, then success, rewards, and opportunities will follow. We all need people like this whom we can rely on even in the toughest of times, and know that they will get the job done. You become part of their “inner circle” and your manager raves about you everywhere.
Duplicate yourself
People often make themselves critical by keeping control of certain important parts of the project. This has an absolutely opposite effect, it drags on your career rather than making you critical. The best strategy is to figure out how you can duplicate yourself, in other words, teach someone else to do what you do, so that you can move on to do better things. This is how you scale yourself in real life. Now, your manager not only can trust that you are their go-to-guy, but he is seeing you as a multiplier who is raising the entire team with them.
Be Receptive to Feedback
Being open to feedback is a game-changer for growth. If someone is criticizing your idea, then do not be defensive! It’s your golden opportunity to seize on that feedback. You can then self-reflect or talk to other people if they notice the same behavior. You should also proactively seek feedback from peers, managers, and stakeholders to sharpen your skills and align with team goals.
Know what your leadership wants and what your customer needs
You don’t need to understand the “game” or learn how to manipulate management. You just need to understand what your leadership prioritizes—whether it’s scalability, cost efficiency, or innovation—and what your customers truly need, like intuitive features or reliability. You may not directly be in meetings with your senior leadership, but you can often gain access to the same documents, like Monthly Business Review, Quarterly Business Reviews, Roadmap planning doc, Vision doc, etc. This will give you a great sense of what your leadership prioritizes.
To understand what your customer needs, you are blessed if you can talk to your customer directly and shadow them. You can ask what they love about the product, what can be improved, and if they had a magic wand, what is one thing they wish your product could do. If you don’t have this opportunity, you can learn that indirectly by reviewing your backlog created by customers, frequently repeated bugs, reading reviews, revisiting past surveys, etc.
By syncing your work with these goals, you deliver impact that resonates with both your management as well as customers and earns you recognition. You have also started to see the strategic direction of your organization and will have a very good idea of why certain projects are being prioritized.
Think At The Next Level
Now that you are thinking strategically rather than tactically, start looking at what people in a level up do. If you have no idea about this, you can set up a meeting with some of the people at the next level and ask what their day-to-day life looks like and what suggestions they have for you. You can ask them what you can do to help, and help them out. By doing this, you are creating a sponsor who will actively invest their time to ensure your career success.
Follow through and close the loop
This is probably the most underrated feedback. Never drop the ball! If you have made a commitment, always follow through and make sure to close the loop on that conversation or commitment. If priorities change and you can’t meet the commitment, follow up and let the stakeholders know about the shift in priorities. And just in case you did drop something, follow up again as soon as possible and apologize for dropping the ball.
Conclusion
A Future of Opportunity
While the tech industry is going through a seismic shift, it also offers substantial opportunities for professional growth and innovation for software engineers. By adopting strategic approaches such as leveraging GenAI to focus beyond coding, developing excellence in software delivery, duplicating oneself to scale impact, being receptive to feedback, aligning with leadership and customer needs, thinking strategically, and ensuring follow-through on commitments, engineers can navigate this dynamic landscape effectively. By following these steps, you can not only thrive in your career but will also become a great asset for your manager, leadership, and team.
“The Great Flattening” was the trend of the Tech Industry in 2024 and continues to be a major area of focus in 2025 for many Big Tech firms. This is mainly focused on management layers to bring more efficiency in companies and doesn’t directly impact engineers. However, there is another trend in 20254 because of Gen AI, which can potentially eliminate the need for entry/mid-level software engineers. In a January podcast with Joe Rogan, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that AI will replace mid-level engineers by 2025. As per this article from CIO, AI coding agents will take over the world by 2027.
So, how do software engineers thrive and climb the career ladder in this world where 25% of the code in Google is already being written by AI agents? I am an engineering manager at Amazon, and despite all the gloom because of AI, I firmly believe that a lot of software engineers will still thrive in this world. Here is my advice.
