The skill Salesforce's AI boss says is more important than learning to code
EVP Jayesh Govindarajan said he defines agency as seeking out a problem and having the drive to solve it.
Mark Zuckerberg has a similar hiring philosophy and said he values the ability to "go deep and do one thing really well."
For years, "learn to code" was the go-to advice for anyone wanting to break into a tech career — but Salesforce's head of AI says another skill is more valuable 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," executive vice president Jayesh Govindarajan said in an interview with Business Insider.
Govindarajan said that's because Salesforce is building "a system that can pretty much solve anything for you" but "just doesn't know what to solve."
"I think far more important than knowing how to code is having that agency and that drive to go get it built out," Govindarajan said.
The AI boss gave a hypothetical example of someone trying to solve a problem for College Possible, a nonprofit that helps students prepare for college and receives funding from Salesforce. Govindarajan said that someone could interview a counselor, see what they do on a daily basis, and then use an agentic AI system to "describe what you're trying to build and it'll give you a first draft of the solution." While that first draft may not be perfect, "you go take it to this counselor, have them play with it," and listen to their feedback and any critique, he said.
"Then you'd come back and you tweak it again. No code. You'd give it instructions in English. That's very possible," Govindarajan said.
The Salesforce exec said someone who has gone through this process has demonstrated two key things.
"One, agency to go seek out a problem to solve," Govindarajan said. "And two, learn the toolset — that's a no-code tool set or a low-code tool set — to be able to go get the job done."
In that hypothetical example, once the counselor is interested in actually buying the proposed solution, a more experienced coder could then be brought in to sharpen up the edges and fine-tune the software product.
Govindarajan's remarks offer a look into how the world of software development and sales is evolving in the age of AI.
Since the emergence of AI tools like GitHub Copilot or Amazon CodeWhisperer, a number of coding tasks have been automated, creating uncertainty in a once-stable industry and new challenges for some younger entrants looking to break into software engineering.
During Google's third-quarter earnings call in October, Sundar Pichai said over a quarter of new code at the company is generated by AI, although it's still reviewed and accepted by employees. Other tech giants have similarly integrated AI into coding tasks. One Microsoft manager told BI that AI helped him cut down the time he spent on coding tasks by about 70%.
Even as coding becomes increasingly automated, some industry leaders believe learning the basics continues to be necessary, arguing that it's more important than ever to understand the fundamentals of technology in order to build on it.
Other industry leaders seem to be leaning in the direction that soft skills could be what sets candidates apart.
Mark Zuckerberg said in a July 2024 interview with Bloomberg that he believes the most important skill is "learning how to think critically and learning values when you're young."
"If people have shown that they can go deep and do one thing really well, then they've probably gained experience in, like, the art of learning something," Zuckerberg said in the interview, discussing what he looks for in job candidates.
The CEO said that skill applies to situations that could arise during a career at Meta and it's key to showcase your ability to dive deep and master whatever you're working on.
Or, as Govindarajan might put it: using the tools at your disposal to get stuff done.
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