A report from not-for-profit tech training provider CodeYourFuture has found, despite AI fears, nearly half of UK firms (48 per cent) plan to increase their software developer headcount over the next two years. Ready for the Future? says a further 38 per cent plan to keep teams at their current size, with only 7 per cent having frozen hiring and 4 per cent planning cuts.
AI is dramatically accelerating software development, according to 98 per cent of respondents. However, 71 per cent report that code is being written faster than their teams can comprehend the codebase. This is creating ‘cognitive debt’, the long-term loss of understanding that accumulates when work is continually outsourced to AI, making it harder to resolve issues and make improvements.
Security is also a significant concern. 27 per cent of respondents have already experienced a security vulnerability directly resulting from AI-generated code, while 21 per cent have suffered an application outage or system failure.
As a result, nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) now expect a wave of ‘AI regret’, where short-term AI output is insufficient and requires rehiring engineers. The figure is highest among SMEs (71 per cent) and technology companies (69 per cent) and lowest in large enterprises (still 54 per cent).
With AI able to produce code at speed, engineers are now spending 45 per cent of their time maintaining and debugging code. In response, employers have changed what they value in developers. Engineering leaders rank adaptability (49 per cent) and willingness to learn (40 per cent) as the most important traits in early-career candidates, ahead of expertise in a specific programming language (36 per cent).
Recruitment processes mirror this shift. More than half of hiring teams (55 per cent) now assess candidates mainly on their ability to critique and defend code. Nearly four in five (78 per cent) place moderate or high emphasis on personal resilience and adaptability, rising to 94 per cent in SMEs. Yet only 16 per cent recruit from non-traditional routes, such as apprenticeships.
Commenting in the report Abhiruchi Thatte-Carrino, Head of Engineering, Matomo said: “You still need developers, because if you don’t have good developers, AI is completely useless. If you can’t tell AI what you want it to do and review the output that it’s producing, you’re not going to get anywhere.
‘’When hiring you need to think can this person leverage the tools? Can they learn? Can they challenge? It’s about how you approach and solve a problem. Individuality for me is also really important.”
Germán Bencci, CEO and Founder of CodeYourFuture added: “At CodeYourFuture, we see first-hand how people entering the tech world from non-conventional routes bring these highly valued skills to a role. Every early-career hire also reduces a company’s reliance on a small group of senior engineers, which most of the leaders in our research already see as a serious risk.
“AI is changing the nature of engineering work and creating new opportunities for entry-level talent. Employers are looking for adaptability and resilience, not just technical proficiency, and I hope that means a far more diverse range of people are hired into technical roles.
“We already know that companies with diverse management teams achieve higher revenues and greater levels of innovation. Developing a more diverse pipeline of talent throughout an organisation can only accelerate this.”
