Day One Ready: What New Engineers Actually Need to Know About AI | Engineering Now Unlocked

Starting your first engineering role — or coming back for a return offer — and wondering what AI actually changes about the job? This episode gives you the real answer, from two engineers living it every day.

Jordan Shelton and Cynthia Mathenge sit down with Ian Thurlow (Senior Manager, Data Platform Software Engineering) and Andrew Yan (Software Engineer, Data Foundations) to talk about what day one looks like now, what AI tools actually do for early-career engineers, and what fundamentals still separate good engineers from great ones. If you’re about to start an internship, just got your return offer, or you’re a manager thinking about how to set new engineers up for success — this is the conversation you need before day one.

What you’ll learn

✔ What AI actually changes about day-to-day engineering work (and what it doesn’t)

✔ Why the fundamentals matter more than ever — not less

✔ How to build a network at a company like ServiceNow, even if you start remotely

✔ How to use AI as a sounding board, not a crutch

Chapters

00:00 Introduction — Engineering Now Unlocked

02:08 Meet Ian Thurlow and Andrew Yan

03:03 How AI is changing day-to-day engineering work

04:47 AI as an accelerator, not a replacement

09:04 AI as a sounding board 

12:38 Leadership mindset in an AI-first team

13:46 Raising the bar for early-in-career talent 1

5:41 What your first 30 days should look like

17:43 This or That

19:16 Code reviews: the fastest way to learn that nobody talks about

20:57 Building your network — even fully remote

24:24 Ian and Andrew’s Work Advice

27:43 Outro

Guests

Ian Thurlow Senior Manager, Data Platform Software Engineering — ServiceNow

Andrew Yan Software Engineer, Data Foundations — ServiceNow

Hosts

Jorden Shelton Technical Program Manager, AI Engineering & Delivery — ServiceNow

Cynthia Mathenge Business Operations Manager, AI Engineering & Delivery — ServiceNow

Bobby Brill ServiceNow Insights

Links & Resources Learn more about ServiceNow Engineering → https://www.servicenow.com/company/careers/engineering.html

ServiceNow Docs → https://docs.servicenow.com

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