What happens to IT careers when AI writes most of the code? Vincent Desclaux, PALO IT's Europe Director, joined host Frédéric Simottel on BFM Business's Tech&Co Business to answer that question. He was joined by Alix Mirshams, CEO of IT talent platform Optimis. Together they looked at how AI is reshaping IT roles, and what it means for training the next generation of engineers.
Watch the full interview below, or read on for the key takeaways.
The IT talent market is still tight. Optimis's P2I index, which compares the roles companies request with the profiles available, sits at 1,893 points against a 2019 baseline of 1,000. That's close to its all-time high.
What's changing is what companies are buying. Demand is moving away from raw capacity and toward cross-functional skills. As Vincent put it, AI doesn't eliminate the talent shortage. It shifts it. The most valuable profiles will combine three things:
The early talk of "prompt engineers" has given way to more substantial roles. Forward Deployed Engineers, already common in the US, are arriving in Europe and around the world to embed AI directly into a company's value chain.
Vincent also highlighted agentic workflow orchestrators. Today's AI agents can plan tasks, execute them and check the results. Humans are still needed to brief them, validate their outputs and push work to production.
Other emerging roles include product builders, who combine developer, tester and product owner skills, and tokenomics specialists, who bring FinOps discipline to AI spend. When token costs sit alongside people costs, someone has to govern both. (For a primer, see our guide to AI tokenization).
“The talent shortage doesn’t disappear with AI. It shifts it, because the most valuable profiles tomorrow won’t necessarily be experts in one technology.” – Vincent Desclaux
If AI automates entry-level tasks, how do juniors learn? Alix noted that demand for junior profiles has slowed sharply this year. Clients favor experienced people who adapt quickly across systems and technologies. Vincent explained the gap. Seasoned professionals know when to use AI, for what, and where the value is. Juniors are learning the business, the technology and how to work with AI all at once.
PALO IT's answer is pairing and shadowing, with seniors and juniors working side by side. Vincent was clear that bringing juniors in now is critical. AI won't do everything, and tomorrow's experts have to be trained today.
Vincent stressed that adoption doesn't happen by buying licenses. It takes support, training and acculturation. AI also exposes existing obstacles, such as siloed teams and weak data governance, that have to be addressed for it to deliver.
For IT professionals, the takeaway is that hard skills alone are no longer enough. For companies, the challenge is defining the profiles they need and building the teams to match.
Want to talk about how AI is reshaping your teams? Get in touch with PALO IT.