Has AI changed our software development approach to a top-down model?
In my opinion, it really depends on the company's original culture. Personally, I’ve experienced both top-down and bottom-up development approaches. I’d say the current AI-driven development process feels more like a transition from uncertainty to clarity. In other words, the stronger someone's technical foundation, the better they can validate AI-generated code.
Letting AI handle everything (a.k.a. vibe coding) will likely lead to unmaintainable code in the long run. I don’t deny that some people use this method to release quick-and-dirty products and even manage to profit from them, and I’m honestly happy for them. But it’s just not a viable approach for my work.
So when junior engineers started to disappear, the main competition shifted to mid-level engineers. If at that point you chose not to grow into a senior role but instead fully relied on AI without truly understanding the implementation, it just doesn’t seem realistic.
In fact, the baseline for mid-level engineers is rising—they’re expanding their expertise. The real difference lies in whether someone is willing to properly leverage the tools available. In that sense, things aren’t all that different from before.
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