In a recent talk, Cat Wu, a software engineer at Anthropic, argued that the engineering landscape has fundamentally shifted. "It's no longer enough for an engineer to be able to implement specs," Wu said. "Now the really important skill is product taste."
Wu defined product taste as "understanding what to build and what the bar should be, and what the UX should be." She emphasized that engineers must develop a "good intuition" for prioritizing user feedback, noting that "the products we build aren’t always exactly what users are asking for."
This perspective reflects a broader trend in the tech industry, where the ability to make sound product decisions is increasingly valued alongside traditional coding skills. Wu’s comments come from a video published by O'Reilly on April 29, 2026, which has already garnered attention for its concise take on evolving engineering roles.