As artificial intelligence increasingly revolutionises software development, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivers a grounded reminder to aspiring tech professionals: strong fundamentals still matter most. In a recent chat with popular YouTuber Sajjaad Khade, Nadella emphasised that while AI now generates up to 30% of Microsoft’s code, success in the tech world still hinges on mastering core skills – computational thinking, system design and clear, structured problem-solving. Even with powerful AI tools at hand, he cautioned, human understanding remains vital.
“Just getting real fundamentals of software (if you’re a software engineer), I think, matters a lot,” Nadella said. “To me, having the ability to think computationally (is important).”
Meanwhile, when asked by Khade what single piece of advice he would give to someone entering today’s AI-driven software landscape, Satya Nadella emphasised the importance of logical thinking. While AI can aid in writing code, he noted, it still depends on the user’s ability to think clearly, structure problems effectively, and provide meaningful direction.
He said, “The path to being that software architect gets speeded up. All of us are going to be more software architects.”
To drive his point home, Nadella shared a personal anecdote. He recalled a recent moment when he encountered a bug in his own code and turned to GitHub Copilot – an AI-powered coding assistant – for help. “It was a pretty interesting issue,” he explained. “The issue was I did a filter, which was basically a percentile… creating a feature. But then I said, ‘Oh man, this is, like, you know, I could, you know, recount what is a SQL, right?” he said.
According to Nadella, the future of coding lies in striking the right balance between human insight and AI-driven assistance. While AI will increasingly take over repetitive and routine tasks, he stressed that the crucial work of framing problems and designing logical, cohesive systems will remain firmly in human hands.
Earlier in conversation with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nadella said that AI currently writes a significant portion of Microsoft’s code.
“I’d say maybe 20 per cent, 30 per cent of the code that is inside of our repos today and some of our projects are probably all written by software,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nadella further highlighted the concept of “agentic AI” during his keynote at Microsoft Build last month, according to a report by India Today. “The agentic web is reshaping the entire tech stack, and we are creating new opportunities for devs at every layer.”