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ZDNET's key takeaways
BCG says AI is moving faster than workforce strategies.
IT jobs are the most likely to be transformed by gen AI.
Yet AI may help elevate the roles of tech professionals.
Technology professionals' experiences with artificial intelligence are "harbingers of change in the workplace," suggested a recent BCG report. So, are people in the technology sector, ready or not, blazing the path that everyone will be following in the near future with AI? And what lessons can they share?
The challenge is that AI is moving faster than companies' workforce strategies, stated the report, put together by a team of BCG analysts led by Julie Bedard. "Tech workers -- being so close to AI-driven changes -- are the first to be affected," they reported.
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Today, autonomous AI agents are already handling "complex, end-to-end tasks, such as coding, testing, analysis -- with human oversight," they stated.
Another recent study released by Indeed confirmed what many ZDNET readers may already have seen firsthand: software development and other information technology jobs are the most likely to be transformed by gen AI. While an average of 46% of all jobs in all sectors are likely to be impacted to some degree by AI, these percentages jump to 81% for software development, 79% for data and analytics, 71% for IT infrastructure, and 70% for IT systems.
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Overall, few roles are at risk of substantial replacement by AI anytime in the near future, the Indeed report's authors pointed out. However, the BCG analysts had a different take: "The future isn't evolving gradually. Change is happening fast: in just the past year, leading tech organizations have moved quickly to adapt their talent models for an AI-first world."
Yet it isn't all bad news. "AI may be helping to elevate the roles of tech professionals," Bedard and her co-authors said. "In addition, this may be a good time for user interface and user experience designers, who are evolving architects of AI-powered products."
The BCG team provided some real-life examples of this evolution in key tech roles:
Software engineers : "Focusing more on the 'why' and 'what,' rather than the 'how.'"
: "Focusing more on the 'why' and 'what,' rather than the 'how.'" User interface and user experience designers : "Becoming architects of AI-powered products, continuing to add the human touch."
: "Becoming architects of AI-powered products, continuing to add the human touch." Product managers : "Evolving into strategists by automating administrative tasks and shifting how they plan, prioritize, and engage with teams."
: "Evolving into strategists by automating administrative tasks and shifting how they plan, prioritize, and engage with teams." Data scientists : Forging "a new pathway, from entry-level to high-level and strategic questioning and oversight."
: Forging "a new pathway, from entry-level to high-level and strategic questioning and oversight." Quality assurance workers: "Moving away from execution toward intelligent oversight of the agents that drive testing workflows."
The increased reliance on AI technologies, particularly gen AI and AI agents, is behind the evolution of these roles. "These shifts aren't just about efficiency," the BCG analysts observed. "They reflect a deeper transformation that is in motion: roles are being redefined, layers streamlined, and hiring strategies rewritten to prioritize AI fluency."
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The message from the survey is that technology professionals should prepare for a dramatic transformation over the next five years and pass the lessons learned to the broader workforce: "The evolution of their work serves as a model for changes across job functions."
Bedard and her co-authors outlined three stages of AI adoption that will occur in technology professions and, ultimately, the broader workforce:
Tool-based adoption : This is where most tech professionals and their organizations are today: "Humans lead coding, AI builds scaffolds, but output needs human oversight."
: This is where most tech professionals and their organizations are today: "Humans lead coding, AI builds scaffolds, but output needs human oversight." Workflow transformation : This is the next stage of the evolution, with AI generating production-level output: "Adaptability and versatility skills needed as engineers' scope broadens to QA, DevOps, and infrastructure. Team sizes shrink."
: This is the next stage of the evolution, with AI generating production-level output: "Adaptability and versatility skills needed as engineers' scope broadens to QA, DevOps, and infrastructure. Team sizes shrink." Agent-led orchestration: At this stage, agentic AI supports end-to-end coding, testing, and deployment. Humans focus on systems design and agent orchestration.
Notably, the report emphasized that the boundaries between engineering, product, and design are disappearing: "Engineers validate AI-generated specs, product managers prototype with AI, and designers step into product-level tasks."
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As Bedard and her co-authors suggested: "One leader we talked with said that product managers now cover four to six times greater scope, spanning prototyping, prompt writing, and light quality assurance. Employees who combine hybrid skill sets with AI fluency are fast becoming the norm."