Executives on Whether ‘Learn to Code’ Is Still Good Advice in AI Era

As the CEO of a multibillion-dollar cybersecurity company, Matthew Prince doesn’t write much code himself, but he said he’s a “better CEO” because he understands how Cloudflare’s engineering team builds software.

While AI tools can now automate some of the heavy lifting, Prince said “it’s incredibly handy” to understand the basics. The CEO added that the role of a software engineer is still necessary, even with AI advancements.

“Especially in a field that is as security-conscious as we are, you know, no code would ever get released without significant human review,” Prince said.

Andrew Anagnost told Business Insider that learning to code used to be an entry point into STEM careers. Today, the real differentiator is “systems-level thinking,” he said. Anagnost describes the skill as “understanding how technologies, processes, and people connect to solve real-world problems.”

“The most successful workers aren’t just writing code; they’re guiding and adapting AI-powered tools to tackle complex challenges,” Anagnost said.

Anagnost said that in a world where AI agents can perform specialized skills, humans will need to take on the role of “creative orchestrators” and manage AI systems. He said understanding multiple disciplines and the “what and how” of building products will become increasingly valuable.

Salesforce’s executive vice president of AI, Jayesh Govindarajan, said “having agency” is more valuable than coding these days.

“I may be in the minority here, but I think something that’s far more essential than learning how to code is having agency,” the executive vice president, said in an interview with Business Insider.

Govindarajan said Salesforce is building “a system that can pretty much solve anything for you” but “just doesn’t know what to solve.” That means having the agency and drive to build something out will be more important, he said.

Okta CEO Todd McKinnon said that coding is only important to learn if you have the aptitude for it.

“This whole thing that, like, everyone should learn to code is laughable,” McKinnon said. “Totally laughable.”

McKinnon said he’s “very glad” he learned to code because it fit the way his brain works, but it’s not for everyone.

“Saying that everyone should learn to code is just not appreciating different people’s strengths and perspectives,” McKinnon said.

Cisco’s executive vice president and chief customer experience officer Liz Centoni said she still considers coding a core skill for tech.

“There’s some foundational elements that help train the way you think around how to solve for problems,” Centoni, who worked as a software engineer early in her career, told Business Insider.

The Cisco exec said employees need to know when to apply different technologies to solve everyday problems, whether it’s machine learning or generative AI. Centoni said “hands-on knowledge” in those situations is “super valuable.”

“There’s some basic concepts you need to understand,” Centoni said, adding that she’s looking for people who can solve them with “knowledge of the tools that are out there.”

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber believes it’s important to not outsource thinking to AI.

That means people should still learn skills like coding, she told Business Insider. While AI can help insert structure, figure out bugs, and generate code, Graber said you still need to have a solid foundation.

“If you don’t know what good code looks like, if you don’t know how to actually build a system, you’re not going to be able to evaluate its output,” Graber said.

Dropbox VP of product and growth for AI products, Morgan Brown, said it’s important to understand the different components of the technical stack you’re operating in.

“Understanding the different components of your tech stack is just part of the table stakes if you want to figure out where new value can be created,” Brown said.

While advanced coding might not be critical for his role, he said he learned SQL to understand database queries and structured data.

“Being able to speak the language, being able to have an understanding of the system, will always be important,” Brown said, adding that if you lack broader knowledge, you might miss what could be possible if you had deeper insight into how things work.

Google’s head of Research Yossi Matias told Business Insider that “everybody should learn how to code,” and the basics may be more important than ever in the age of AI.

“Perhaps even more so now, there are going to be many more opportunities to actually build on that,” Matias said.

He said that he views basic coding the same way he views basic math: “You need to understand what’s going on there.”