Adapt to AI or Leave Your Software Career, Warns GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke has sounded a clear and uncompromising warning to software engineers worldwide: either embrace artificial intelligence (AI) as a core part of your work, or consider exiting your career. Speaking candidly in his recent blog post titled “Developers, Reinvented,” Dohmke lays out a future where the traditional role of developers as coders writing every line of code is disappearing. Instead, AI technologies like GitHub Copilot are reshaping software development in profound ways, demanding a fundamental reinvention of what it means to be a developer today.

Dohmke’s message is based on insights gathered from interviews with 22 developers already heavily using AI tools in their daily work. These professionals have moved from initial scepticism of AI to recognising it as an essential collaborator that can handle routine tasks such as code completion, bug fixes, and generating boilerplate code. This shift frees developers to focus on higher-level work—guiding AI systems, designing workflows, validating output, and shaping complex software architecture.

He describes this transformation as progressing through four stages: from AI Skeptic to AI Explorer, then AI Collaborator, and finally AI Strategist, where developers orchestrate and lead AI tools rather than code line-by-line. Dohmke emphasises that this evolution is not about reducing work; it is about changing the nature of software engineering to become more strategic, creative, and systems-oriented.

The warning is stark. Dohmke writes, “Either you embrace AI, or you get out of this career.” He points out that AI could soon write up to 90 per cent of code within the next two to five years. Consequently, the skills most valued in developers will shift away from rote coding towards system design, understanding AI behaviour, prompt engineering, multi-agent coordination, and rigorous validation of AI-generated work.

This change also demands an overhaul of education. Dohmke criticises current computer science curricula, which focus heavily on syntax and memorising APIs—skills that AI can now easily replicate. Instead, he urges that students learn to think broadly about software, mastering abstraction, decomposition, and interdisciplinary knowledge alongside AI fluency.

Despite the challenges, Dohmke remains optimistic about the careers of developers who adapt. He points to projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expecting an 18% growth in software development jobs over the next decade, much faster than average. However, he stresses these will be very different jobs, requiring new mindsets and capabilities.

For those still reluctant or resistant, Dohmke warns that the pace of change is fast and unforgiving. The notion of software engineers hunched over keyboards, manually writing every line of code, is becoming obsolete. Instead, developers must become “code enablers” or “creative directors of code,” operating AI as a powerful partner. This change will open exciting new avenues but also marks the end for the old ways of working.

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