We Are All Product Engineers Now
Seldo.com, Monday, September 14th, 2026
As AI automates code writing, software development transforms into product engineering focused on customer needs.
The author argues that AI agents will soon automate most technical aspects of software development, including coding, reviewing, maintaining, and operations, leaving product definition as the core remaining job.
The market is already hiring forward deployed engineers and similar roles at senior pay ($240K+) to understand customer problems and specify solutions.
However, the profession lacks training pipelines for these skills, creating a ten-year transition period where demand vastly outpaces supply of people who can extract requirements, define quality, and exercise taste in software design.