Day One Ready: What New Engineers Need to Know About AI — Engineering Now Unlocked

Day One Ready: What New Engineers Actually Need to Know About AI | Engineering Now Unlocked Starting your first engineering role — or coming back for a return offer — and wondering what AI actually changes about the job? This episode gives you the real answer, from two engineers living it every day. Jordan Shelton and Cynthia Mathenge sit down with Ian Thurlow (Senior Manager, Data Platform Software Engineering) and Andrew Yan (Software Engineer, Data Foundations) to talk about what day one looks like now, what AI tools actually do for early-career engineers, and what fundamentals still separate good engineers from great ones. If you’re about to start an internship, just got your return offer, or you’re a manager thinking about how to set new engineers up for success — this is the conversation you need before day one. What you’ll learn✔ What AI actually changes about day-to-day engineering work (and what it doesn’t) ✔ Why the fundamentals matter more than ever — not less ✔ How to build a network at a company like ServiceNow, even if you start remotely ✔ How to use AI as a sounding board, not a crutch Chapters 00:00 Introduction — Engineering Now Unlocked 02:08 Meet Ian Thurlow and Andrew Yan 03:03 How AI is changing day-to-day engineering work 04:47 AI as an accelerator, not a replacement 09:04 AI as a sounding board 12:38 Leadership mindset in an AI-first team 13:46 Raising the bar for early-in-career talent 15:41 What your first 30 days should look like 17:43 This or That 19:16 Code reviews: the fastest way to learn that nobody talks about 20:57 Building your network — even fully remote 24:24 Ian and Andrew’s Work Advice 27:43 Outro Guests Ian Thurlow Senior Manager, Data Platform Software Engineering — ServiceNow Andrew Yan Software Engineer, Data Foundations — ServiceNow Hosts Jorden Shelton Technical Program Manager, AI Engineering & Delivery — ServiceNow Cynthia Mathenge Business Operations Manager, AI Engineering & Delivery — ServiceNow Bobby Brill ServiceNow Insights Links & Resources Learn more about ServiceNow Engineering → https://www.servicenow.com/company/careers/engineering.html ServiceNow Docs → https://docs.servicenow.com New to the channel? Subscribe so you never miss an episode of ServiceNow Insights.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.