GitHub Senior Engineer: Software Engineering Is Broken! Here's What's Next

Zen spent 4 years inside GitHub watching the AI revolution unfold and what he saw made him walk away from the best job he'd ever had. He breaks down why software engineering is broken, what AI is doing to hiring, and exactly how to break into AI engineering in 2026.Computer science students, new grads, and software engineers…want to land your dream software engineering job or internship? Click here 👉https://www.amanmanazir.com/coaching/?utm_source=transistor&utm_medium=podcasts_description&utm_campaign=ZenGitHub&video=Gt2bKGJbd0U🚀 Get my free Software Engineering Crash Course – https://www.amanmanazir.com/7dayengineer🎧 Listen to all episodes of the Software Engineering Accelerator Podcast on YouTube: youtube.com/AmanManazirListen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1I’m Aman Manazir, a career coach and software engineer. I interned at companies like Amazon, Shopify, and HP in college, and the day I graduated I landed a $168,000/year* full-time software engineering job. I help you make it as a computer science student & software engineer and get your dream job offer.📄 Get my free resume template – https://www.amanmanazir.com/resume🧠 Get my free LeetCode Roadmap – https://www.amanmanazir.com/leetcode💌 Free weekly productivity insights/advice – https://amanmanazir.com/newsletter📕 All my free Notion templates – https://www.amanmanazir.com/notion📝 Sign up for Notion – https://affiliate.notion.so/2nh3pjr6l5l6📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amanmanazir/🐦 Twitter – https://twitter.com/amanmanazir👉 Zen's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@zenvanriel👉 Zen's AI Engineer Program: https://aiengineer.community/join —⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Introduction 01:15 From $500/Month Tester to AI Engineer02:30 Why Zen Studied Cognitive Science and AI03:48 How He Actually Learned to Code04:55 Is Software Testing Still a Valid Entry Point?05:57 Why LinkedIn Got Him Into Microsoft06:42 How Microsoft Found His Profile07:34 What to Post on LinkedIn With No Experience09:44 The Microsoft Internship Interview Surprise11:34 Do Soft Skills Matter More in the AI Era?12:13 The Azure Cert He Failed Three Times14:58 Why AI Advice Is Always Generic16:20 How to Find Mentors You Can Actually Trust17:33 Inside GitHub During the AI Boom19:04 How Zen Stays Up to Date Without the Hype20:28 What the AI Culture at GitHub Really Looked Like22:18 The PR Pushback Story: 6000 Lines Rejected25:12 How to Find the Middle Ground With AI Coding27:38 Will AI Actually Replace Engineers?29:09 Why He Left the Best Job He Ever Had30:36 The Moment AI Safety Became His Mission31:34 The Problem With Agents Reviewing Agents32:53 Why Accountability Is Everything in Engineering33:15 The Paradox of Criticising AI While Using It Daily35:02 Startup vs Enterprise: How to Use AI Differently38:08 The AI Detox Before His Safety Lab Interview39:15 Should Engineers Detox From AI Regularly?40:55 How He Used Claude Code to Prep for Interviews41:59 The Deepfake Hiring Story45:18 How Interviewers Are Catching AI Cheaters46:36 Why Struggling in an Interview Proves You're Human47:39 What Interviews Will Look Like in Two Years50:33 Why Internships Are the Cheat Code Now52:01 Why Referrals Matter More Than Ever54:22 How His Student Landed an AI Engineer Offer55:45 What Even Is an AI Engineer?56:49 The Step-by-Step Pivot Into AI Engineering59:26 Top Skills to Be Competitive in AI Engineering1:01:34 Do You Actually Need to Be Good at Math?1:03:15 Is LeetCode Dead for AI Engineering?1:04:18 Where to Find Zen Online