Beyond the Specialist: Becoming a "Builder" in the Age of AGI

​For decades, the path to a tech career was clear: pick a lane—Engineering, Product Management, or Design—and master it. However, the rise of AI is rapidly erasing these silos. Today, AI can write most code and generate sophisticated designs; as we move toward AGI, even the strategic work of product management will be augmented.

​This talk explores why your future job title likely won't be "Software Engineer" or "UI Designer," but rather "Builder." We will discuss how to shift your focus from learning specific tools to mastering system orchestration and human-centric problem solving. You will learn three core strategies to future-proof your education: moving from execution to architecture, doubling down on uniquely human skills like empathy and ethics, and building a multi-disciplinary portfolio. The goal is to lead the AI revolution by becoming a versatile visionary that machines cannot replace.

​Shilpa Shastri leads AI strategy at Apptio (an IBM company), where she has defined and executed the roadmap for a multi-agent AI infrastructure platform. Previously, she held product roles at AWS and Microsoft, where she shipped cloud services, infrastructure and developer platforms. Her work bridges product strategy, cloud economics, and AI innovation—helping enterprises adopt AI responsibly and at scale. Shilpa speaks frequently on AI adoption, infrastructure optimization, and the future of agentic AI.