A few months ago, I was at a friend's gathering, catching up with people I hadn't seen in years. Most of them now work across the non-tech industry,
A non-tech friend pulled me aside and asked a question I get a lot these days: "Is it still possible for new graduates to break into the tech industry? Someone has to give them their first shot, right?"
I took a sip of my drink and gave him the honest answer.
"To be frank," I said, "my team, and many others like it, are no longer actively recruiting for traditional 'junior engineer' roles."
He thought I was joking. I wasn't. The reality is, for my team, managing a suite of 20 specialized AI tools is now a more efficient use of our time and resources than training a new graduate with no practical experience. It’s not that we don't want to teach; it's that the pace of our work and the leverage we get from AI mean we literally don't have the time.
The conversation stuck with me. The playbook for getting into this industry has changed, but it seems no one has told the people who need to hear it most. So, for every student/ graduate and aspiring engineer out there, here are the five honest truths you need to understand.
1. Your Job Isn't to Write Code; It's to Command AI
The first thing to understand is that your core skill is no longer just coding. Knowing Python used to be a differentiating factor; now, it's just the baseline. My team uses over 20 different AI tools daily: Gemini Code for code completion, Claude for logic and debugging, LangChain, n8m for building agentic workflows, and so on.
Many of the tasks that were once the bread and butter of a junior engineer's role are now handled by these AI assistants. But here's the critical point: AI, no matter how powerful, still requires a human to give it precise, intelligent commands.
The most valuable skill in tech right now is Prompt Engineering. You need to know how to articulate exactly what you want, how to structure your requests, what context to provide, and what constraints to set. If you can't write a good prompt, the AI will give you unusable garbage. The people who are still getting offers are the ones who have proven they know how to make AI work for them, effectively multiplying their own output. I generally write a prompt for 3 pages for A4 now to get a lengthy and constructive app programming to start with.
2. Your Resume is Irrelevant. Your GitHub is Everything.
Let me be blunt: my team and I don't care about your GPA, your TOEIC score, or the list of courses you took. We care about one thing: Have you built something that actually works?
If you want to get noticed by a hiring manager at Apple, Google, or any other top tech company, the fastest way is to build a project that is tangible. It doesn't need to be massive or overly complex, but it must be:
- Real: It solves a genuine problem.
- Demonstrable: You can show it working in a live demo.
- Useful: It has practical application.
Examples could be a small tool to help your friends schedule classes, your own AI-powered translation website, or an automation script to process reports. These are infinitely more valuable than any certificate. My personal workflow is this: I'll glance at your LinkedIn for a few seconds, but I will read every line of your GitHub README.
3. Stop Waiting to Be Mentored. Start Solving Problems.
The era of slow, methodical, step-by-step onboarding for new hires is over, at least in high-velocity teams. Our teams are lean, and the pace is relentless. We don't have the bandwidth to teach someone the basics of debugging from scratch.
To prove you are worth keeping, the key is not what you already know, but your demonstrated ability to solve problems independently. This doesn't mean you need to be a senior engineer on day one, but you must be able to:
- Read documentation thoroughly.
- Google a problem from three different angles before asking for help.
- Approach a senior with three potential solutions you've considered, not just three questions.
I don't need you to be a genius. I need you to be resourceful. If you can solve 60% of your own problems, you have my attention and my respect.
4. Leetcode is Not Enough. System Design is the Moat.
A few years ago, acing algorithm challenges was the key to landing a top job. That's no longer enough. AI can now write a sorting algorithm or a complex function for you in seconds.
But there is one thing it cannot yet do: architect a stable, scalable, and secure backend system. This is the real differentiator. The topics you should be obsessing over are not just algorithms, but:
- How to break down a monolith into microservices.
- How to handle concurrency and load balancing.
- How to design secure APIs.
- How to implement read/write separation in a database.
- How to identify what you don't know.
If you can demonstrate an understanding of these concepts, even at a junior level, you will be viewed as a potential senior engineer, not just a coder. AI can write the functions, but it can't yet design the entire system.
5. Don't Compete with AI. Be Its Editor.
This is the most important truth. AI is incredibly powerful, but it is also frequently wrong. It hallucinates APIs, misunderstands logical nuances, and provides solutions that look plausible but are deeply inefficient or won't run at all.
Your true value is not in your ability to "use AI quickly." It's in your judgment. It's in your ability to look at AI-generated code and know:
- That this implementation is inefficient.
- That this architectural design is overly complex.
- That this proposed solution will fail under real-world conditions.
In other words, your new role is not "AI user." Your role is Editor, Marketing Manager, Product Manager, and System Architect. Your job is not to compete with AI for tasks; your job is to be the human decision-maker that guides it.
A Final Thought
I'll end with something I told my friend that night, a phrase I truly believe:
"In this industry today, there are no junior engineers; there are only engineers who haven't yet proven they are senior."
This isn't meant to be discouraging. It is a call to action. The opportunity has not shrunk; the standard has simply changed. Don't wait for a company to give you a starting point. Your starting point is what you build for yourself, starting now.
