Pure IT engineers are on the way out

The software outsourcing market is facing competition from cheap high-tech human resources and AI Agents, making pure IT engineers obsolete.

Mr. Nguyen Huy Dung - Full-time member of the Central Steering Committee on Science and Technology Development, Innovation and Digital Transformation - spoke at the event - Photo: CHI HIEU

Software outsourcing continues to be an important sector in the digital economy , with its size expected to reach more than $1,100 billion by 2025.

The integration of artificial intelligence brings about a major change, leaving the software outsourcing industry facing an existential challenge.

Assessing this change, Mr. Nguyen Huy Dung - Member of the Central Steering Committee on Science and Technology Development, Innovation and Digital Transformation - commented that the era of pure IT engineers is about to end, and the era of information systems (IS) experts, who master business problems, is beginning.

The above statement was shared by Mr. Nguyen Huy Dung at the Rikkei Global Summit 2025 (RGS2025) event held on October 10 in Hanoi .

According to experts, the software outsourcing industry is facing opportunities as well as challenges for Vietnam, as China is no longer a cheap software outsourcing factory.

Japan, a hardware powerhouse, is facing the reality that it missed the software revolution.

However, India today is very different from 20 years ago, its high-tech personnel are more highly valued than Vietnam in terms of deep expertise in the field of AI. However, they are willing to accept salaries 20-30% lower than high-tech personnel in our country.

Not stopping there, competition from Agent AI - an artificial intelligence system or program that is capable of autonomously making decisions and taking actions to achieve specific goals without constant human intervention; No-code platforms integrated in software with terrible processing speeds, directly threaten the work of pure IT engineers.

Mr. Nguyen Huy Dung also pointed out that the future picture of the software outsourcing industry in the next decade will not be competition on low prices, but fierce competition on value.

To make that happen, Vietnam’s high-quality technology personnel need to become excellent information systems (IS) experts. The era of pure IT engineers is coming to an end and the era of information systems experts, who master business problems, is beginning.

Filial piety

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ky-su-cong-nghe-thong-tin-thuan-tuy-sap-het-thoi-20251010135634942.htm