The Hacker’s Guide to the Age of AI

In "The Hacker's Guide to the Age of AI," Major League Hacking CEO and Co-founder Swift tackles the tech industry's biggest question: what is the role of a developer in a world with AI?

This presentation moves beyond the headlines of layoffs and fear, arguing that now is the single greatest day in history to be a software creator. Swift provides a practical guide for developers to not just survive, but thrive in this new landscape. You will learn why hands-on experience with AI is a career cheat code, how the role of a developer is shifting to that of a manager of machines, and why the tools you master today will shape the industry's future. This is a must-see for any developer who wants to understand their place in the age of AI and take control of their career.

Transcript

1. @theycallmeswift | Sept. 2025 The Hacker’s Guide to the Age of AI.
2. Hey, there! I’m Swift. CEO & Co-Founder of MLH Aspiring lawyer turned hacker Empowering hackers for 15+ years
3. You can’t learn the skills to become a Software Engineer in the classroom.
5. Let’s address the elephant in the room today: AI has changed the world
6. There are 27 million software engineers employed worldwide. There are 1 billion knowledge workers who could become one now.
7. Maybe getting this Computer Science degree in the age of AI was a huge mistake…
8. Remember those massive tech layoffs? They’re still happening: Source: layoffs.fyi
9. “There will be no programmers in five years.” Emad Mostaque CEO, Stability AI “We’re not adding any more software engineers next year.” Marc Benioff CEO, Salesforce “It is our job to create computing technology such that nobody has to program.” Jensen Huang CEO, NVIDIA
10. “Today is actually the single greatest day in history to become a software creator!”
11. The future of the tech industry will be written by the people in this room, not some big shots in Silicon Valley.
12. How do you stand out in the crowd when every job listing is overloaded with resumes?
13. AI native skills are now a prerequisite for landing a job.
14. When technology changes by the minute, the only way to learn is by doing.
15. Talking about & using AI at school or work is basically taboo right now, so where are we supposed to learn?
16. HACKATHONS
17. of hackers are already learning skills through the MLH community they can’t learn in class. 91%
18. Having a real track record of using AI to solve problems is a cheat code right now. [Insight #1]:
19. Typical Developer Before AI: ✅ Primary Language is Code ✅ Computer Science Degree ✅ Comfortable in IDE & Terminal ✅ Leetcode is Proxy for Skill ✅ Internship Experience
20. Typical Developer After AI: ❌ Primary Language is Code ❌ Computer Science Degree ❌ Comfortable in IDE & Terminal ❌ Leetcode is Proxy for Skill ❌ Internship Experience
21. Isn’t AI the fifth member of every hackathon team? 🤔
22. • Written Communication ✍ • Presentation Skills 🎤 • Ideation & Brainstorming ⚡ • Learning Speed & Aptitude 🧠 • Hyper-personalization 🙋 Hackathons have always been a great medium for learning work skills that matter:
23. Everyone starts as a manager now. We just manage machines instead of people. [Insight #2]:
24. This is the historic “Technology Diffusion Pyramid”:
25. And, this is what AI has done to it:
26. Source: MLH Community Census (2025) of MLH alumni go on to introduce a technology they learned through MLH into production at their job. 51%
27. The tools you use today will become the industry leading technologies of tomorrow. [Insight #3]:
28. 1. Real AI skills are a superpower 󰭈 2. Everyone starts as a manager now 󰠀 3. Developers control the technology 🚗 Ok, Let’s Summarize:
29. Thank you & Happy Hacking. Mike “Swift” Swift CEO & Co-founder @ MLH swift@mlh.io | theycallmeswift.dev Slides Available Online: speakerdeck.com/theycallmeswift