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/AmanManazir Listen to our new podcast, @TheEntropyShow: https://youtu.be/MDJQXbXPngg?si=vQqITmNzy3fhfcV1 I’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 Engineer 02:30 Why Zen Studied Cognitive Science and AI 03:48 How He Actually Learned to Code 04:55 Is Software Testing Still a Valid Entry Point? 05:57 Why LinkedIn Got Him Into Microsoft 06:42 How Microsoft Found His Profile 07:34 What to Post on LinkedIn With No Experience 09:44 The Microsoft Internship Interview Surprise 11:34 Do Soft Skills Matter More in the AI Era? 12:13 The Azure Cert He Failed Three Times 14:58 Why AI Advice Is Always Generic 16:20 How to Find Mentors You Can Actually Trust 17:33 Inside GitHub During the AI Boom 19:04 How Zen Stays Up to Date Without the Hype 20:28 What the AI Culture at GitHub Really Looked Like 22:18 The PR Pushback Story: 6000 Lines Rejected 25:12 How to Find the Middle Ground With AI Coding 27:38 Will AI Actually Replace Engineers? 29:09 Why He Left the Best Job He Ever Had 30:36 The Moment AI Safety Became His Mission 31:34 The Problem With Agents Reviewing Agents 32:53 Why Accountability Is Everything in Engineering 33:15 The Paradox of Criticising AI While Using It Daily 35:02 Startup vs Enterprise: How to Use AI Differently 38:08 The AI Detox Before His Safety Lab Interview 39:15 Should Engineers Detox From AI Regularly? 40:55 How He Used Claude Code to Prep for Interviews 41:59 The Deepfake Hiring Story 45:18 How Interviewers Are Catching AI Cheaters 46:36 Why Struggling in an Interview Proves You're Human 47:39 What Interviews Will Look Like in Two Years 50:33 Why Internships Are the Cheat Code Now 52:01 Why Referrals Matter More Than Ever 54:22 How His Student Landed an AI Engineer Offer 55:45 What Even Is an AI Engineer? 56:49 The Step-by-Step Pivot Into AI Engineering 59:26 Top Skills to Be Competitive in AI Engineering 1:01:34 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