Rushing to slap an "AI engineer" title on your coding team is the fastest way to turn real investment into wasted capital. It's like putting your best mechanic in the driver's seat at Le Mans and wondering why the car spins out at the first corner.
Here's the real problem—distilled
Roles aren't interchangeable: Your mechanics (software engineers) know the machine at a granular level. But piloting the car—interpreting context, adapting under pressure, seeing the bigger race—demands a totally different mindset and skillset.
Rebranding isn't a capability: Slapping a new title on last year's team doesn't make them AI-ready. If you want a return on that big "AI investment," you need the right pilot, not just a different badge for the mechanics. An effective AI readiness assessment for EU SMEs reveals this gap immediately.
Blind spots for leaders: Leadership talk is all about "upskilling" and "agile transformation." But if you don't align skills with actual need, you risk doubling down on sunk cost—throwing good money after bad for prestige, not progress.
3 Takeaways—Put these into practice now
Skill to role, not label: Before you launch that next AI initiative, map out what results actually require. Hire or grow "pilots" (AI specialists, domain-aware strategists) who see the road ahead, not just the engine. This is where AI strategy consulting and digital transformation strategy converge with hiring decisions.
Engineer-pilot partnerships: Mechanics and pilots succeed when they collaborate. Software devs build what AI leads envision; both need clarity on the business reason and the feedback loops. Workflow automation design and AI tool integration thrive in this partnership model.
Caution with titles: Don't inflate job titles for hype or retention. If you're changing labels but not capabilities, you're signaling confusion—not confidence—to your team and market.
Limits & Fixes
Constraint: Not every coder wants—or should be—an AI engineer. That's a fact.
Mitigation: Build clear "pit lanes." Allow for real upskilling where it fits, but hire pilots for the driver's seat. Operational AI implementation and business process optimization require the right people in the right roles. It's the only way to protect (and multiply) that heavy initial investment.
Don't just rebadge your team and hope for the best. Invest in purpose-built collaboration—mechanics and pilots, each playing to their strengths. That's the real win.
Written by Dr. Hernani Costa and originally published at First AI Movers. Subscribe to the First AI Movers Newsletter for daily, no‑fluff AI business insights and practical automation playbooks for EU SME leaders. First AI Movers is part of Core Ventures.
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