Advice for People (Still) Entering the Tech Industry in 2026

In the face of AI-driven constant change, what advice would you give to those entering the tech industry next year? Despite 2025 having been another year marred by layoffs, tech industry hiring overall continued to grow. Add to this, more than 5 million computer science or equivalent graduates globally and another roughly 400,000 bootcamp grads are entering the market this year. We’re not saying it’s the most optimistic tech market to be entering — and entry-level hiring has dropped again — but that doesn’t mean that it’s hopeless. Someone’s going to have to clean up all the mess vibe coding leaves behind! I spoke to a dozen engineering leaders, each with over a decade of experience in the field. For most of them, sure, they started their careers in more favorable job markets. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have actionable advice — and well wishes — to give you. Read on for advice for those just starting out in the tech industry in 2026. Listen and learn — because those are probably the most important software engineering skills you can hone in this time of AI-driven rapid change. Good luck! Stay Open To Continuous Learning Everyone in the tech industry — and soon all roles in almost any industry — is in the midst of a huge change. As Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, posted this past June on X, formerly known as Twitter, the biggest career accelerator in the next decade is to “get really, really good at learning.” This was echoed by everyone I spoke with in their advice to you. “Be proactive and curious about what you can improve around you. That could be about your own learning, your own team or organisation, or the industry. If you learn how to ask great questions, recognize what can be done within the context you’re working in and then actually do something about it, you’ll be developing skills that you can apply throughout your career. “Your impact as an engineer goes beyond just the code — it’s how you pick up on what challenges and opportunities there are, how you communicate those to others, and how you analyze and plan what can be done. “With AI doing more and becoming more commonplace and taking on more of the technical, I think human skills become even more important. We’ll always need people within tech, and the people who can make sense of the chaos and ambiguity, make decisions and help teams come to decisions and communicate those things clearly are only going to be more valued.” — Melinda Seckington, leadership coach and trainer at Learn Build Share “Don’t try to compete with AI; rather, learn to collaborate with it. “The people who thrive will be those who use AI to accelerate learning, explore ideas faster and reduce the fear of experimentation. But the fundamentals still matter, like understanding systems, writing clean code, communicating clearly and thinking critically about trade-offs. “AI can generate answers, but it can’t replace your judgment. Focus on becoming someone who knows which problems matter, how to ask the right questions and how to turn ambiguity into clarity. Tools will change every year; these instincts will last your whole career.” — Subho Halder, CEO of Appknox Reflect on How AI Changes You If you graduated with a computer science degree or equivalent recently, you remember a time without AI. You also may have had to take whole courses or at least entire exams without AI. That isn’t practical or even recommended in a modern job interview that should reflect the modern experience of AI-enriched software development, but hold onto that experience — and sometimes choose to intentionally do work without AI. “Pay attention to where you are defaulting to ‘interpassivity,’ where you are allowing the computer to do a simulation of work that is neither very productive nor teaching you anything new. There’s no shortcut that lasts for long, and without the strong fundamentals that come from hard work, you will be much more exposed to the risk of becoming obsolete.” — Camille Fournier, author of “Platform Engineering” and “The Manager’s Path” “Look at what you need, not what everyone else is doing — there are so many tools, you could drown.” — Molly Clarke, platform engineering lead at easyJet “Become an expert in using AI as a tool, but also know its weaknesses. It’s there to supplement, not supplant.” — Chris Billingham, product director at Etiq AI “Learn how to harness these new technologies and stay curious.” — Dana Lawson, CTO of Netlify Get Back to Basics One of the flaws of many engineering education programs is that they focus on greenfield application building. At the rate at which AI-generated code is extending codebases, not only will even new apps not be truly greenfield, we run the risk that no one on a team has actually read — let alone written — the code. Now, more than ever, from progressive delivery to platform engineering to testing coverage, engineering best practices are essential. “Don’t skimp on security. The more vibe coding everyone globally does, the more security vulnerabilities will be created. You’re better at code with AI, but so are bad actors.” — Fergus Kidd, CTO of FieldPal.ai “First: Don’t rely on AI. Second: Read tech books from the 2000s on how to build software. A lot of the development work I see is making basic errors in development that were well understood as best practice in the 2000s. We need to bring some of those ideas back.” —Paul Johnston, fractional CxO Keep ‘Soft Skills’ Core Cross-organizational communication is more important than ever in the Age of AI. After all, 95% of AI pilots fail due to organizational silos, according to a study released in July by MIT NANDA. Being able to talk to both tech and business colleagues is essential — and always try to get closer to your users. In an already highly competitive job market, you also have to stand out against the AI as well. The most human skills are more valuable than ever. “Learn to build relationships as well as systems. LLMs [large language models] can scaffold your code, draft your docs and help you reason through complexity, but it can’t build trust on your behalf. Trust building as well as good judgment remain an edge that’s not going away.” — Helen Greul, vice president of engineering at Multiverse.io “Develop industrious habits, learn to step back, try not to worry, but don’t be complacent. The tech industry has changed, it’s not as easy as it was, but it has also stayed the same. The bullies and sexists are still here. Find mentors, stay safe.” — Jamie Dobson, co-founder of Container Solutions and author of “Visionaries, Rebels and Machines” “My advice to anyone entering the tech industry next year is that you are entering the industry at the most interesting time in history — it would have been unthinkable that someone entering the tech industry could overtake someone with decades of experience in a matter of months, but this is now possible. “Embracing AI is not optional; it is essential and this will come naturally to those with limited experience. Therein lies an opportunity to climb the career ladder faster than ever before, or as an entrepreneur, build a business with meaningful scale in record time.” — Paul Payne, CTO of scale-up SaaScada “It’s a tough market. I don’t have any specific advice. Prepare for your lucky opportunities and make the most of them when you stumble upon one.” — Hazel Weakly, architect V for global engineering and reliability at ING You Are Still Welcome The tech industry has always been one of constant flux. The change is just happening faster than ever, at least for right now. I wanted to end this with a reminder that you are still welcome here. Good luck! “Welcome, we’re glad you’re here! Get ready for things to change dramatically over the next five years and know that continuous learning will be your strongest attribute throughout your career.” — Nathen Harvey, DORA lead at Google Cloud The post Advice for People (Still) Entering the Tech Industry in 2026 appeared first on The New Stack.