For those dreaming of a shiny tech job fresh out of college, the ground seems to be moving under their feet.
Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup led by a fired-up team of tech veterans, says it’s shifting away from recruiting new grads and focusing on engineers who already know the ropes. Mike Krieger, the company’s chief product officer and Instagram cofounder, spoke candidly on a recent podcast about how the landscape is changing rapidly for those just starting their careers.
Krieger admitted he feels uncertain when it comes to hiring people without much experience.
He noted that Anthropic just doesn’t have the systems in place for a robust internship path, which traditionally serves as a launchpad for young engineers hoping to break into major companies.
But there’s a far bigger reason behind the shift. As artificial intelligence gets better at writing code and evaluating its own work, companies like Anthropic are rethinking the shape of their engineering teams.
The Changing Role of New Engineers
Krieger said on another podcast that within the next three years, human coders could find themselves outsourcing large chunks of their tasks to AI tools.
That future, he suggested, will require people to spend more time on big-picture thinking, inventive design choices, and overseeing how automated systems handle the nuts-and-bolts work.
Instead of slogging through bug fixes or routine code, entry-level employees will need to master tools like Claude, Anthropic’s answer to the chatbot craze, if they want to stand out.
A spokesperson from Anthropic echoed this, explaining that anyone who can use their flagship AI tool effectively is still a strong candidate, no matter how seasoned they are. Tools like Claude have the power to make a junior engineer as efficient as a much more experienced one.
A glance at Anthropic’s jobs page reveals a stark reality. Most open positions demand five years or more of relevant background. A handful of roles, generally in sales, ask for much less.
Anthropic’s chief, Dario Amodei, has warned in interviews that up to half of all entry-level positions could disappear as AI tools get smarter and more widely used.
He said that the pace of change seems to be flying under the radar for most people, but companies like his are already preparing.
Other leaders in tech are watching with concern too. David Hsu, who runs Retool, pointed out that while workers still hold leverage, many executives are eager for the day when they no longer need to scramble for talent and can hand more jobs to artificial intelligence systems.
All eyes are on how quickly such changes arrive for junior tech workers.
