The world of work is at a turning point. For decades, programmers were the central force translating business processes into code. Today, artificial intelligence is reshaping this picture: technical excellence alone is no longer sufficient. What is needed are new skills — and people who can transfer knowledge, design processes and integrate virtual employees into teams.
Old tasks are changing, new responsibilities are emerging. This is where the transition toward hybrid organizations begins — organizations in which humans and AI jointly create impact.
From Coding to Training
In the past, the core task was to translate every single step into code. Systems were programmed line by line, with rigid determinism and detailed logic. With the effective use of artificial intelligence, the focus shifts: the manual implementation of business logic moves into the background.
While technical excellence continues to provide the foundation, training, coaching and leadership skills move to the center. The role evolves toward enabling hybrid organizations.
Democratization Through AI
For a long time, process implementation was the exclusive domain of IT. AI breaks this exclusivity and makes organizational design more accessible.
Today, business departments can actively shape tasks and workflows and apply their domain expertise directly. AI has a democratizing effect: it empowers not only IT specialists, but also non-programmers to take responsibility for processes and outcomes.
At the same time, one thing remains clear: without developers, none of this works. They build secure infrastructures, design interfaces and enable the integration of virtual employees into daily operations. DevOps, cloud platforms and API architectures form the foundation upon which AI can create real value.
The New Role of Humans
As skill requirements shift, new responsibilities emerge across organizations. The key question is therefore not: “Which roles will disappear?” but rather: “Which new tasks will arise — and who will take them on?”
The answer will not lie in IT alone. Business units, HR and leadership teams will assume greater responsibility, bringing process knowledge, contextual understanding and proximity to day-to-day work. This transformation is not about eliminating roles, but about expanding and redistributing responsibilities.
In the future, the following capabilities will shape everyday work:
- Context and structuring skills: clearly defining goals, processes and constraints.
- Didactic skills: preparing knowledge in a way that AI can learn from.
- Process and organizational understanding: designing entire workflows, not just functions.
- Leadership and communication: leading human and virtual employees, providing feedback and quality assurance.
- Interdisciplinarity: connecting technical, functional and organizational expertise.
As highlighted in a recent HR Executive article, success is no longer driven by rigid roles, but by skills as the “currency of performance.” HR becomes the architect who makes these capabilities visible, continuously develops them and integrates them into hybrid teams. People evolve into coaches, supervisors, bridge builders and organizational designers who enable hybrid collaboration.
What This Means for Organizations
For leaders, the message is clear: foster a culture of learning and teaching. Future competitive advantage will not lie solely in digitizing processes, but in deliberately shaping workflows, embedding domain expertise and scaling that knowledge to empower virtual employees.
Employees must be enabled to build new skills and actively integrate virtual colleagues into the organization. HR plays a central role here: designing learning processes, activating expertise and enabling collaboration.
Farewell and New Beginnings
This shift requires letting go of familiar ways of working: less control over individual lines of code, less focus on technical detail within business logic.
At the same time, it opens new opportunities: greater impact through process design, more responsibility in organizational development and stronger influence on the culture of human–AI collaboration.
This is not about replacing old roles, but about rethinking them and expanding them meaningfully.
Conclusion
The transition from programmer to trainer is not merely a change in job description — it reflects a deeper transformation of the world of work. Hybrid organizations do not emerge from faster or better IT alone; they require a new understanding of roles.
Virtual employees are not automation tools, but colleagues who require training, leadership and integration. Success lies in the interplay: technical excellence provides the platform, while functional and didactic expertise unlocks true potential. Those who embrace new responsibilities — and develop the skills to match — will shape the future of work.
Source
- HR Executive (2025): The augmented human: Why HR is the architect of an AI-powered future