From Geek to Star #41 - The Unwritten Job Description

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🗓️ This Week – Episode 41: The Unwritten Job Description

The past two weeks since the last episode have been intense: I just started a new full time job as Group Head of Digital and Technology at an international hospitality company with a purpose to embrace the environment and to empower people - if you've followed me for some time, you will easily understand why I joined given the alignment with my values 🙂.

And I happened to read a 45-minutes essay on the future of software engineering and organisations by Sau Sheong Chang. Yes, 45 minutes and a few brain iterations to think over it… If you are into this kind of thinking, I highly recommend reading this essay. Sau Sheong Chang is a highly regarded C-Level Tech executive who is still super hands on while running GovTech Singapore, the agency driving the tech agenda and building the tech foundations of the nation. 

The essay is very rich and I will share some insights below with observation in the conclusion that “The shift from AI-assisted to AI-native development isn’t just a technological change. It’s a fundamental rethinking of how software is built, governed, valued, and what it means to be a software engineer. [...] The field agrees the role of engineering is shifting. Nobody has fully envisaged what it shifts to.”

On the first day I joined my new company, there was a card from the deputy CEO, to whom I report to, wishing me a warm welcome and all the best for me to “shape my role and how it will positively impact our company”. And I realised that indeed I did not really have a job description - something I actually like. There was one at the beginning of the recruitment process but this was mostly for the headhunter to look out for candidates. Ultimately, my job description in this company is to enable the company to grow and scale, in alignment of its values, thanks to digital tech. 

Some may argue that this is usual at a certain level of leadership, where job descriptions are not something on which the focus is since these positions require adaptability and flexibility. This is true, but it is also true that at every level, it is becoming more difficult to precisely define the scope of job of a position in tech. 

And that's where I think it becomes an opportunity for each of you: it gives room to shape your role beyond what is strictly written and what could be in the mind of your manager. Coming back to the essay of Sau Sheong Chang, here are a few key trends he identifies that influence the path your career may take - and opportunities you may want to explore:

1️⃣ The bottleneck is shifting: from building to deciding

For decades, the constraint in software development was engineering capacity. Product managers had ideas, business teams had needs, and engineers struggled to keep up.

AI is starting to flip that dynamic.

Today, working prototypes can sometimes be generated in hours rather than weeks. The challenge increasingly becomes deciding what should be built, reviewing whether it is correct, and ensuring the organisation can absorb the change.

In other words, the scarce skill is less about writing code and more about judgement. The challenge will be rather to manage the tsunami of AI generated code in the organisation - including vibe coding by non tech colleagues - to decide how to handle this. 

Engineers and tech leaders who can connect business intent, technology possibilities, and organisational reality will become increasingly valuable.

2️⃣ Code may not be the most important artefact anymore

If AI can regenerate code easily, then the true value shifts elsewhere - this is a debate though I still have with some peers, who actually believe that truth sits in the code and you can generate all the rest from it thanks to AI. 

In my opinion, the durable artefacts of technology may increasingly be:

• the problem definition

• the system architecture

• the domain understanding

• the decision history: I believe that decision history will be increasingly essential in a context of fast changing pace and pivots to avoid
  

In other words, the thinking behind the system may matter more than the lines of code themselves. And I do believe that proper knowledge management (how at Enterprise level? Keen to here from you if you have thoughts on this!) in a context of fast information generation with AI will become essential for humans to navigate all the complexities. 

This is why curiosity, communication, and business understanding are becoming as important as technical depth.

3️⃣ Team structures are about to change

Another insight from the essay is that team structures may shrink dramatically. One person equipped with powerful AI tools can now reach a proof-of-concept before any traditional engineering team would even have started the project.

This doesn’t mean engineers disappear. It means the leverage of individuals increases dramatically. And when leverage increases, expectations follow.

Each person’s ability to identify problems, propose solutions, and move things forward becomes more important than simply executing tasks.

When I reflect on these ideas together with the small sentence written on the card I received on my first day - “shape your role” - it feels like a very accurate description of what the next decade of tech careers may look like.

The job description may exist. But increasingly, the real job description is the one you write yourself.

This can be uncomfortable. Many people prefer clarity, clear boundaries, and precise expectations. But it is also an incredible opportunity.

In a world where technology evolves faster than organisational charts, those who thrive will not be those waiting to be told what to do.

They will be those who:

• stay curious

• understand the business context

• experiment with new tools

• master how to manage AI in its generation of systems to keep systems scalable, resilient and under control  

• and proactively shape how they contribute
  

The future of tech careers may not be about climbing a predefined ladder. And if you think about it… that may actually be much more interesting.

🙏 I’d Love to Hear From You

Do you feel you have the opportunity in your current role to shape it towards a more AI-ready future?

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From Geek to Star by Khang | The Way Forward