Levelling up engineers in an AI-driven world

How can senior ICs and managers strategically guide junior engineers to develop critical engineering skills amid the rise of AI coding assistants?

In a landscape where generative AI and coding assistants are increasingly prevalent, how do we ensure that junior engineers develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary to progress to senior roles?

This talk explores how senior ICs can foster a learning environment that leverages AI tools without allowing them to become crutches. We will discuss frameworks for evaluating when AI can accelerate learning versus when it might obscure skill gaps, and share case studies on effective mentorship strategies in this new paradigm.

Attendees will leave with actionable insights on balancing AI-assisted workflows with traditional engineering skill development, ensuring that emerging engineers are prepared to thrive as senior ICs in the future.

Key takeaways
* Identify key skill areas that AI tools may obscure and strategies for reinforcing them.
* Implement mentorship frameworks that balance AI use with traditional problem-solving techniques.
* Develop actionable plans to assess junior engineers’ readiness for senior roles amid AI-driven workflows.

Transcript

1. Socials: jonathan fi eld.ing Jonathan Fielding / 4th November 2025 / Lead Dev Berlin Levelling up engineers in an AI-driven world
2. AI is changing how our teams deliver software
3. 1811, England A New Map of England. From the latest Authorities by John Cary Engraver 1811
4. The Luddites Unknown. 195 years since publication, copyright extinguished - Working Class Movement Library catalogue
5. Fear E.L. Hoskyn - Plate from More Pictures of British History, London, 1914, p.61. Publisher: London. Adam and Charles Black. 1914
6. Fast Forward To Today
7. AI is already part of how we build software 90 % of developers now use AI tools 80 % say it’s boosted their productivity 30 % don’t trust the code it writes Source: DORA 2025 – State of AI-Assisted Software Development
8. The Shift
9. Core engineering skills
10. Problem Framing Thinking
11. Reading Code Thinking
12. Debugging Thinking
13. Designing systems Technical Judgement
14. Making tradeoffs Technical Judgement
15. Spotting smells Technical Judgement
16. Structuring Code Technical Judgement
17. Communication Human Skills
18. Ownership Human Skills
19. Core skills still need space to grow
20. New skills that everyone will need to master
21. Think critically about information.
22. Prompt engineering
23. Veri fi cation & Validation Skills
24. Veri fi cation & Validation Skills
25. We need to layer these skills on top of our core skills
26. Adapting our mentorship model
27. How we learned as juniors
28. AI Changes the learning path
29. What this means for engineering leaders
30. From answers to questions
31. Always explain “Why?”
32. Expose the thought process
33. Give feedback on the thought process
34. Scaling mentorship in the AI Era
35. Group Mentoring
36. Peer mentoring
37. Reverse Mentoring
38. One to One Mentoring
39. Mentorship is still human work
40. Mentors must keep learning too
41. Feedback must remain human
42. From Mentorship to Measuring Growth
43. From Mentorship to Measuring Growth
44. What growth ladders reward
45. But Real Growth Isn’t Just Doing More
46. Surface the Depth, Judgment and Impact
47. Make Readiness Visible
48. Assess With AI in Mind
49. Progression in the AI Era is Human Work
50. Takeaways & Closing
51. AI helps when it accelerates understanding
52. AI Hurts When It Hides Gaps
53. Mentorship Matters
54. AI changes how engineers work but not what great engineers do.
55. Socials: jonathan fi eld.ing Blog: www.jonathan fi elding.com Lets continue the conversation at of fi ce hours