On April 17, 2025, our college specially invited Professor Jian, the Executive Secretary General of the Nanjing University New Science Alumni Association, as the main guest to hold an industry forum with the theme of "The Living Environment and Breakthrough Strategies of Traditional Developers in the AI Technology Revolution", sharing his rich experience and profound insights.
Teacher Yan graduated from Nanjing University with a major in Computer Science and Technology. Since 1996, he has been on a journey of entrepreneurship for over 20 years and has been deeply involved in the field of investment and financing for more than ten years. Nowadays, as a lecturer at the Graduate School of Nanjing University, he focuses on teaching courses on artificial intelligence innovation and entrepreneurship. He also serves as the Executive Secretary General of the Nanjing University New Science Alumni Association, actively organizing and promoting various activities of the alumni association. The alumni association adheres to the cooperation concept of "equality, openness, mutual benefit and sharing", focusing on new economic fields such as artificial intelligence and new energy. Through cross-border cooperation, technology exchange, and establishing strategic partnerships with local governments, it continues to empower industry development.
The strict teacher took the lead in analyzing the opportunities and challenges faced by traditional professions. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, traditional professionals such as programmers, designers, and product managers are generally experiencing career development anxiety. Strict teacher pointed out that although repetitive work will gradually be replaced by automation technology, complex decision-making, creative design, and deep analysis still rely on human intelligence and experience. This means that traditional professions are facing both challenges and opportunities for transformation, and developers need to continuously improve their professional abilities and move towards high-level problem-solving and innovation.
Subsequently, strict teachers proposed three growth strategies for the career development of "old code farmers" in the era of big models. One is to maintain a keen perception of new technologies and actively learn artificial intelligence related skills and tools; Secondly, promote the deep integration of professional fields and artificial intelligence technology, actively explore innovative application scenarios and products; The third is to achieve the transformation from traditional coding thinking to systematic thinking, and enhance the ability of global strategic planning. These strategies will help practitioners enhance their personal value and stand firm in industry transformation.
When discussing the popular viewpoint of "increasing efficiency by 10 times", Teacher Yan emphasized that although artificial intelligence can significantly improve work efficiency, the key is for developers to effectively utilize AI tools. Specifically, it is necessary to accurately select AI tools and platforms that are suitable for project requirements, systematically optimize and reconstruct workflows, and strengthen collaboration and experience sharing among team members, in order to fully unleash the potential of artificial intelligence applications.
Finally, in the face of future uncertainty, Teacher Strict offers three suggestions for developers' career planning. Firstly, establish a long-term learning mechanism and integrate continuous learning into one's career; Secondly, cultivate agile thinking and respond to industry changes with a positive attitude; Thirdly, anchor long-term goals, maintain strategic composure in rapidly changing environments, and steadily advance career development plans.
This industry forum provides new ideas and directions for traditional developers to reshape their career positioning and achieve dual enhancement of personal and industry value in the wave of artificial intelligence. During the interactive session, participants actively exchanged ideas and shared their practical experiences and unique insights in the application of artificial intelligence technology. I hope that through this industry forum, more students can seize the opportunities of technological change, deepen innovation and cooperation, and calmly cope with the uncertainty brought by technological development.
Contributors: Xia Lei, Ma Tiannan, Wang Liyin
Image provided by: Lu Xinyuan
