By 2026, tech job boards will have become resource hubs focused on AI skills rather than older coding experience, as AI companies move from testing to using AI agents on real-world job platforms and now look for specialized talent with strong AI skills.
How Job Boards Became Resource Hubs
Tech job services such as Job Tensor, Hiring Cafe, and WellFound now offer more than just job listings; they have become full talent hubs that provide a range of services.
- AI-powered matching: These platforms use algorithms to match candidates based on AI project experience, not just keywords or a resume.
- Skill verification services like Calibre offer or connect candidates with assessment tools that test whether they can actually operate tools like LLMs (GPT-4), MLOPs frameworks, or Python rather than just knowing what they are.
- Curated content and insights: These hubs share market patterns, such as data showing that AI jobs now pay 56% more and grow faster than traditional roles.
- Niche Focus: Specialized platforms such as Job Board AI now connect developers directly with startups working on AI agents and automated workflows.
Shifting From Writing Code To Managing AI Agents
The main hiring trend in 2026 is a move toward professionals who can manage AI agents, which are autonomous software programs that understand their environment and act on it. Companies are looking for AI agent engineers and orchestrators with these skills:
- Multi-agent system design: Ability to use frameworks like Autogen and CrewAI to build systems where agents work and communicate together.
- LLM Integration & RAG skill in linking large language models (LLMs) with company data using retrieval augmented generation (RAG) to improve accuracy.
- Prompt engineering & governance: shifting from coding to creating prompts that are reliable, safe, and ready for business use.
- Tool integration: making sure agents can use external APIs, browsers, and code interpreters.
What Companies Look For
Companies now choose candidates based on their ability to:
- Reduce workslop: hiring people who can edit and improve low-quality machine-generated content.
- The Chain Reliability Column is seeking professionals who can establish AI guardrails, security measures, and compliance controls to manage risks.
- Deliver ROI by moving from just writing code to building agents that solve business problems like automated customer service or smart inventory restocking.
This change marks a significant shift from viewing coding as a finished product to treating it as the management of a group of smart automated tools. Now, a developer’s value comes from their ability to lead these intelligent agents.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently predicted that AI would write 90% of code within 6 months and handle almost all coding within a year. Many people worry this means developers will be replaced, but there’s more to the story. AI is not just automating tasks; it’s changing roles and opening up new possibilities.
Salesforce, VC, and a subtler, more promising future: Developers are not being replaced; instead, they are moving up the stack.
The discussion has focused too much on what developers might lose. It is time to look at what they stand to gain as AI agents become more advanced. Developers will be able to take on wider and more strategic roles. Their work will shift towards system design, coordination, and long-term outcomes.
Developers Are Noticing The Change
The change has already started. One earlier example is “Vibe Coding,” a term from OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy that is becoming popular. It means coding by intent, where AI takes a first shot at writing code from natural-language instructions or rough ideas, similar to A-Writer’s first draft. Developers will guide the final result, but the process is more collaborative. The AI creates the base, and the developer refines it.
This is only the start. What we see now is just a small part of a much larger challenge as AI handles repetitive programming tasks such as boilerplate code, test generation, and documentation. Developers can focus on higher-level work, such as designing systems, solving new problems, and shaping strategies.
Maham Hassan, a Salesforce architect at Cloud-1 in Dubai, recently shared that AI is already improving her work.
AI agents are shifting my role from purely technical to a more strategic role in the business. She said, “Instead of spending time on repetitive code analysis, code reviews, or ensuring we have a scalable solution and architecture in place, I can focus on designing more scalable designs, optimizing business processes, and advancing innovation.”
In this current reality, developers will take on a supervisory role, guiding agents to improve their outputs and ensuring alignment with broader system goals. Success here necessitates a shift from syntax to systems thinking context, management, and long-term planning.
Tools for Transition
Salesforce is preparing for this future by building tools to support the change. For example, we use our own tool Code Genie to help developers work more efficiently. CodeGenie runs on Salesforce’s CodeGen model, created by our AI research group. So far, CodeGeniehas has processed over 7 million lines of code, answered 500,000 developer questions, and saved at least 30,000 hours each month. This helps lower labor costs and increases developers’ productivity.
I have also added development tools to Agentforce, our digital labor platform, so our customers can get the same benefits. These tools include:
- Agentforce for developers helps automate routine programming tasks such as writing new code, explaining existing logic, and generating test cases.
- Agent builder makes it easier for both developers and businesses/users to create, customize, and deploy agents using low-code tools and AI assistants.
- AgentForce Testing Center: Provides a secular environment to simulate agent behavior, test performance, and refine decision-making.
- Agentforce Developer Edition: Opens the door for advanced users to build deeply integrated, highly customized agents by combining AI-generated code with their own expertise.
Agentic tools are different from traditional AI tools and copilots. While these tools suggest code snippets or fill in basic code, Agentic tools deliver much more. The older tools are helpful, but they don’t change the way we work.
Agentic systems do even more. They can understand what you want on their own and deliver real results. For example, instead of writing a new component by hand, a developer can ask to create a new component that accepts these parameters, calls this API, and returns a message indicating whether it was successful. The agent figures out which libraries to use, writes the classes, tests the component, and sends it back to the developer. The developer then reviews the work and makes any needed changes to improve the code.
To succeed with this new approach, developers need the right tools. Salesforce has been creating and providing these tools through AgentForce.
We understand that not all developers feel prepared. In our latest State of IT survey, over 80% of developers said AI will soon be a basic job requirement, but more than half also said they don’t yet have the skills they need.
What Should Developers Do About It?
First, it’s important to realize that software development is changing for good. To succeed in the future, developers need to accept and adapt to this shift fully.
Next, developers should work hard to improve their AI skills. Hassan said that AI literacy is the number one skill gaining traction right now, and we agree. This isn’t simply about building and coding in the usual way. Instead, it’s about understanding and using AI tools to achieve business outcomes, as Hassan explained.
Developers should also learn about prompt engineering, vibe coding, context management, and iterative design. They need to focus less on single tasks and more on defining goals, guiding smart systems, and improving results over time. The shift is towards system design, product thinking, and long-term planning.
Finally, developers need to get comfortable managing AI agents. This means learning to guide, instruct, monitor, and carefully review their work to maintain high quality and avoid errors.
The good news is that developers don’t have to do this alone. Salesforce’s AgentBlazer Community helps developers connect, learn, and share ideas. Whether you are new to AI Agents or want to grow your skills, having a group of peers can be a big help.
The Latest Chapter
Developer roles are changing, but that doesn’t mean they are going away. Just like cloud computing didn’t end, IT jobs and automation didn’t replace System Administrators; Agentic AI won’t make developers obsolete.
Instead, the job will change. Developers are moving from writing every line of code to directing the bigger picture through control panels rather than just IDEs. Early adopters are already taking on these new roles, setting standards, managing teams, and tackling bigger challenges.
Think of this as a step up, not a job loss.
The Invitation to Act
As software development evolves, new opportunities are opening up for developers who can adapt. Creativity, strategy, and leadership will shape this next phase. The way forward is to accept the change, learn new skills, and take on the role of AI agent manager. The developers who succeed will be curious, committed, and see AI as a tool to help them do more.
For CIOs and IT leaders, this shift is more than just getting new tools. It requires investing in training, support, and building a culture that welcomes trying new things. Teams need both resources and confidence to lead in this new era.
The developers who do well will be curious, committed, and see AI as a creative partner, not a replacement.
Source: The Changing Role of Developers in the Age of AI Agents
