Why Software Engineers Need More Than Code – And Why One Beyond Saw This Coming Eight Years Ago

By Alexis Shirtliff, Head of Engineering | One Beyond

Every week I see another article breathlessly announcing that AI tools mean software engineers must broaden their skills beyond writing code.

And every time, I can’t help thinking: only now you’re having this epiphany?

This reminds me of an interview I did in 2018, eight years ago at the time of writing, where I was asked what skills the “engineers of the future” would need. At One Beyond, we have always seen the need in our client projects for versatile and multi-skilled engineers, long before it became a mainstream talking point.

The interviewer framed the discussion around three at the time allegedly seismic trends:

Blockchain

Even then, I said the hype massively outweighed the substance for anything outside crypto. I think we can all agree that prediction aged pretty well.

IoT

A solid, established technology with real use cases — but not the world‑eating revolution some predicted. Still relevant and valuable for engineers to know of the possibilities, as some adjacent technologies like time-series databases aren’t just useful for IoT applications. This is definitely one of those technologies that is just useful to know about but more often than not for being able to say surely “You aren’t going to need it!”

AI

This is the fun one in hindsight.

Back in 2018, AI was just becoming an off‑the‑shelf commodity. At One Beyond, we’d already delivered projects using early Azure Cognitive Services for image and sentiment analysis. But nobody was really predicting that AI would be sitting beside us writing code, reviewing pull requests, or scaffolding entire architectures. The conversation was about better pattern recognition and using more AI to directly solve clients problems, not AI‑augmented engineering. And yet, even then, my conclusion wasn’t “engineers need to specialise in AI.”

It was something far more fundamental — and it’s a core part of how One Beyond continues to shape its engineering culture.

The Real Skill Shift: Mindset Over Toolset

I argued that the future engineer wouldn’t be defined by a single language or technology. Instead, they’d need a versatile, full‑stack mindset: someone comfortable moving from backend integration to frontend experience design and multiple other disciplines without blinking.

But more importantly, that the next generation of engineers would need a raft of soft skills that weren’t traditionally emphasised:

  • Clear, confident communication
  • The ability to visualise solutions and outcomes
  • Rapid understanding of customer expectations
  • The judgement to choose the right tool, not just the newest one
  • The ability to collaborate across distributed teams and time zones

These weren’t abstract predictions for us. These were and still are the qualities we actively hire for at One Beyond. While others were still obsessing over narrow specialisms, we were building teams with breadth, adaptability, and strong engineering discipline.

Underpinning all of this is something timeless:

  • Good engineering practice
  • An Agile mindset
  • Structured thinking
  • Proven methodologies
  • The ability to follow a process even when the technology landscape is shifting under your feet

Those fundamentals mattered to us 8 years ago. They matter even more now.

Why This Matters in the AI‑Augmented Era

Fast‑forward to today, and AI is woven into the engineering workflow itself. These tools can scaffold code, generate tests, refactor entire modules, and plan high level architectural solutions, amongst many other things.

But the engineers who thrive aren’t the ones who cling to a single language or framework.

They’re the ones who can:

  • Understand the problem
  • Communicate the solution
  • Orchestrate tools intelligently
  • Apply judgement
  • Deliver value to our clients, not just code

Exactly the mindset One Beyond looked for eight years ago and continues to champion now.

So when I see companies only now realising that engineers need broader skills, I’m reminded why being forward‑thinking isn’t just a nice‑to‑have. It’s a competitive advantage. And it’s one we’ve been building into our engineering DNA for nearly a decade.

I stand by the viewpoint I shared in 2018 more than ever:

In the AI augmented engineering era, versatility, communication, and disciplined engineering practice aren’t optional. They’re the differentiators.

By Alexis Shirtliff, Head of Engineering | One Beyond