Landing a first job in engineering has never felt riskier.
At major artificial intelligence companies, like Anthropic, the landscape for new graduates looks bleak. Mike Krieger, the company’s chief product officer and former Instagram cofounder, openly shared that his team is leaning heavily toward seasoned hires.
Krieger’s recent discussion on a podcast highlighted an ongoing shift inside Anthropic’s hiring process. He acknowledged that a robust internship program simply does not exist at the company right now.
This absence leaves fresh graduates without a well-worn path to their first big tech job. For years, internships have paved the way to entering the lucrative world of software engineering, but that door might soon swing closed for many.
The core issue, however, reaches far beyond Anthropic’s own policies. Artificial intelligence is transforming the very structure of tech careers.
The Changing Game for Entry Level Tech Roles
Krieger predicted that entry level engineering positions will look totally different in just a few years. As coding tasks become easier to outsource to AI, the expectations for human engineers are shifting.
In his words, the future of software development will revolve around skills like creative problem solving and reviewing code at scale. Using smart AI analysis tools will likely become a key part of the job, rather than writing basic scripts.
There is still hope for newcomers, though. Steve Mnich, a company spokesperson, explained that candidates who are highly skilled at using Anthropic’s chatbot, Claude, could still stand out and earn a spot at the company.
“The most competitive new hires,” he said, “are the ones who have mastered these advanced tools and can perform at the level of experienced engineers.” Claude, with its reputation for rapid coding and problem solving, has already changed internal workflows at Anthropic.
A quick glance at the company’s job listings shows a stark trend. Most positions require at least five years of prior experience in the field. Only a few, particularly outside engineering, are open to those with just a year or two on their resumes.
Anthropic’s chief executive, Dario Amodei, went even further, warning that AI could eliminate up to half of entry level jobs in coming years. He feels a responsibility to be candid about the potentially massive impact of this technology.
Amodei pointed out that few people outside the tech industry have realized just how disruptive AI could become to traditional roles. Recent public statements raised the alarm that society as a whole needs to start preparing for this upheaval.
Leaders at other artificial intelligence firms agree that power dynamics in the job market are shifting. David Hsu, who leads Retool, suggested that business leaders are ready to replace much of their workforce with artificial intelligence, especially as their patience with worker leverage wears thin, as seen in the growing impact where AI reduces tech entry level jobs as experience becomes key.
