The Modern Software Engineer

This episode is brought to you by the@mlflowossteam. Check out more information at MLflow.org. Mihail Eric is Head of AI at Monaco and Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University, where he teaches CS146S: "The Modern Software Developer" — the first course in the world dedicated to how AI is transforming every stage of the software development lifecycle. With 12+ years building production AI systems at Amazon Alexa, Storia AI (YC S24), and early-stage startups, Mihail has one of the most grounded, practitioner-level takes on what it actually means to be a software engineer in 2026. The Modern Software Engineer // MLOps Podcast #370 with Mihail Eric, Head of AI at Monaco 🧠 What the modern software engineer actually looks like — why the job description has fundamentally shifted from writing code to designing systems and directing agents ⚙️ Agents require more thinking, not less — why the engineers getting the most out of coding agents are the ones who invest the most upfront in architecture, planning, and codebase structure 🎓 Inside Stanford's "Modern Software Developer" course — what Mihail teaches in the first CS course in the world focused entirely on AI-transformed software development 🏗️ From writing code to designing systems — how the best developers are repositioning themselves as architects of agentic workflows rather than line-by-line coders 🔁 The Build System: how to run agents at scale — practical lessons from building multi-agent pipelines, parallel subagent batches, and automated retrospectives 📉 What junior engineers should actually focus on — the skills that remain irreplaceable and the paths that still produce strong software engineers in an AI-first world 🚀 Building Monaco's AI-native revenue engine — what it's like building AI infrastructure for a fast-moving $35M-funded startup disrupting enterprise CRM 🎯 How to ace AI engineering interviews — Mihail's framework for demonstrating real AI engineering competence beyond prompt engineering basics E