GoKawiilCisco taps 27-year-old engineer to refactor 98% of legacy code with AI in 2 years
Cisco president Jeetu Patel has assigned Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy, a 27-year-old engineer who joined via the EzDubs acquisition, to rewrite 98% of the company's legacy codebase within 24 months using a small two-person team. Patel says he has given Krishnamurthy unlimited AI tokens for the project, which starts with a four-week proof of concept.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The move signals how executives may be betting that small teams armed with AI tools can replace work once requiring large engineering departments, which could reshape hiring and promotion patterns inside large tech firms. It also highlights risks already seen elsewhere with AI coding agents, such as unintended deletions or errors, suggesting Cisco's aggressive timeline carries technical and operational uncertainty.
- Cisco has given one engineer unlimited AI tokens to rewrite 98% of its legacy code in 24 months.
- The project began with a four-week proof of concept using a two-person team.
- Cisco's president wants to find more young, unconventional hires who can similarly challenge existing corporate structures.
Source: tomshardware.com — Ben Stockton, 2026-10-30
Published there as: “Cisco gives 27-year-old engineer unlimited AI tokens to rewrite 98% of the company's legacy code in 24 months — president plucks former startup founder, telling him to 'go nuts'”
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