New mothers in software return to workplaces reshaped by AI coding tools

In short: Software jobs are changing quickly as more companies expect engineers to use AI tools, and women returning from parental leave can feel behind.

What's going on

A WIRED report describes how some new mothers in software development are coming back to work and finding that the job has changed during their time away. Danielle, a software developer in Portland, Oregon, said that before she left in mid-2024, AI was not widely used to write code. When she prepared to return about a year later, using AI had become an expectation.

Several large AI companies are betting that AI will do more of the writing work in software. Mark Zuckerberg has predicted AI will write most of Meta’s code within 18 months. In May 2025, AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic released newer tools meant to automate more coding, which can shift a programmer’s job toward checking and guiding AI output (like proofreading a rough draft).

Some workplaces are also measuring how much employees use these tools. One engineer told WIRED her company began running code changes through AI to spot errors, and later even kept a leaderboard ranking engineers by AI usage. Another data engineer said AI helped her understand coworkers’ code, but also meant she spent less time on simpler tasks and more time on harder problems.

What to watch

The report suggests the speed of change may widen a skills gap for people who step away from work, especially during maternity leave when time and money for extra training can be limited. Job postings are also starting to ask for “AI knowledge” without explaining what that means, which can make an already tough job search harder. Employers will likely face more pressure to offer training and clearer expectations so parental leave feels like a pause, not a career setback.

Source: Wired