Predictions of widespread job losses from artificial intelligence have proved overblown in UK technology. Nearly half of UK firms (48%) plan to increase their software developer headcount over the next two years, according to Ready for the Future?, a report from not-for-profit tech training provider CodeYourFuture. A further 38% plan to keep teams at their current size, with only 7% having frozen hiring and 4% planning cuts. Overall, 86% of UK firms plan to grow or maintain their engineering teams.
Yet the acceleration of code development through AI is creating significant problems. Ninety-eight per cent of respondents say AI is dramatically accelerating software development. However, 71% report that code is being written faster than their teams can comprehend the codebase, creating what researchers call “cognitive debt” – the long-term loss of understanding that accumulates when work is continually outsourced to AI.
Security vulnerabilities are a major concern. Twenty-seven per cent of respondents have already experienced a security vulnerability directly resulting from AI-generated code, while 21% have suffered an application outage or system failure.
AI regret and the search for adaptable engineers
As a result, nearly two-thirds (64%) 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%) and technology companies (69%) and lowest in large enterprises (still 54%).
With AI able to produce code at speed, engineers are now spending 45% of their time maintaining and debugging code. In response, employers have changed what they value in developers. Engineering leaders rank adaptability (49%) and willingness to learn (40%) as the most important traits in early-career candidates, ahead of expertise in a specific programming language (36%).
Recruitment processes are shifting to match this priority. More than half of hiring teams (55%) now assess candidates mainly on their ability to critique and defend code. Nearly four in five (78%) place moderate or high emphasis on personal resilience and adaptability, rising to 94% in SMEs. Yet only 16% recruit from non-traditional routes, such as apprenticeships.
Abhiruchi Thatte-Carrino, head of engineering at 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.”
Diversity and reducing reliance on senior staff
Germán Bencci, chief executive and founder of CodeYourFuture, said that hiring early-career talent reduces a company’s reliance on a small group of senior engineers, which most of the leaders in the research already see as a serious risk. Sixty per cent see dependence on a small pool of senior developers as a high or severe operational risk.
Bencci added: “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.”
The report surveyed 138 software developers in the UK, with support from Grand View Research, alongside interviews with senior executives and experts in software engineering. Respondents represented companies of all sizes, from startups (23%) to SMEs (33%) and large enterprises (44%). All major industries were represented, with the majority of respondents from the tech sector (30%) or financial services (26%).
Source: CodeYourFuture
Paul Gray is the publisher of Talent Acquisition Professional and its sister titles at Black and White Trading Ltd, including HRreview and Workplace Wellbeing Professional. He oversees the editorial programme for UK in-house talent acquisition teams.
