# Why Software Engineering Is Indispensable in the Age of Coding Agents

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10226 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.10226/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Software engineering coding agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 4 of its 10 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 Oct 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Software engineering coding agents](https://mlsanity.com/agents/software-engineering-coding-agents/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.09089/) (2025)
- [Professional Software Developers Don't Vibe, They Control: AI Agent Use for Coding in 2025](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.14012/) (2025)
- [Spec-Driven Development:From Code to Contract in the Age of AI Coding Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.00180/) (2026)
- [AI-Assisted Programming Decreases the Productivity of Experienced Developers by Increasing the Technical Debt and Maintenance Burden](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.10165/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Can AI make Software Engineering (SE) -- the discipline -- obsolete? And can it make software engineers -- the professionals -- redundant? This paper argues that the rise of capable AI coding agents makes SE and software engineers essential, not obsolete: the missing foundation without which AI-assisted development produces misleadingly plausible, unverifiable, and ultimately untrustworthy software. Three structural properties of large language models (probabilistic generation, agnosticism, and semantic statelessness) create a structural vacuum that no amount of training can eliminate. Filling it requires four knowledge levers: methodological knowledge, domain knowledge, design choices, and process choices. All four must be reified as persistent artifacts, and each requires the software engineer as methodologist, mediator, and custodian.