Gia Huy, a software engineer with four years of experience, said AI is changing almost every aspect of his work process. Previously, implementing a corporate project required the coordination of multiple team members — from system design and coding to testing and product completion. Today, many of these stages have been automated thanks to AI.
“An oversupply of workers, but a shortage of experts”
This transformation is helping technology companies significantly improve labour productivity. Amid increasingly fierce competition, product development speed has become a decisive factor for the survival of tech firms. AI has therefore quickly become a strategic tool for many software companies.
However, behind this convenience lies mounting pressure on technology workers. AI has not made software engineering work easier, contrary to what many had imagined.
According to Gia Huy, the constant emergence of new tools forces programmers to continuously update their skills while accumulating experience to control risks and minimise errors when using AI.
Many software engineers are now facing pressure to “retrain themselves” in order to adapt to new technologies. Knowledge once considered an advantage only a few years ago can rapidly become outdated. As a result, the lifespan of skills in the technology industry is becoming increasingly shorter.
In reality, AI is gradually replacing many basic programming tasks while simultaneously increasing demand for highly skilled engineers. Positions requiring systems thinking, advanced testing expertise, data governance and AI-integrated product development are becoming increasingly scarce.
Nguyen Huu Dang, Director of the AI Centre of Excellence at VTI Joint Stock Company, said AI has become an indispensable part of the company’s software development operations. “We can reduce personnel at the basic programming level thanks to AI, but we are facing a severe shortage of experienced testing specialists and senior experts,” Dang noted.
Pham Thai Son, Chief Executive Officer of NTQ Solution, said Viet Nam’s information technology market is currently experiencing “an oversupply of workers but a shortage of experts”. According to Son, although a large number of IT students graduate each year, the workforce capable of meeting the practical demands of businesses, particularly in emerging fields such as AI, big data and cybersecurity, remains extremely limited. “In the long term, the talent shortage could seriously affect the competitiveness of Vietnamese technology enterprises,” Son stressed.
In the 2025–2026 recruitment trends report published late last year by recruitment platform TopCV, the IT and software sector ranked second among industries prioritised for recruitment by businesses, accounting for 8.64%.
However, it is also among the sectors facing the greatest difficulties in recruiting high-quality personnel. According to TopCV, the five hardest positions to recruit for currently are AI engineers (12.2%), bridge engineers (9.92%), solution architects (9.16%), mobile developers (7.63%) and software architects (6.87%).
These figures reflect the enormous demand among businesses for highly skilled technology professionals as AI reshapes the software industry. AI engineers, in particular, have become the most sought-after workforce as companies accelerate AI adoption in production and business operations.
According to Pham Thai Son, to attract talents, many companies are willing to raise salaries and expand benefit packages for AI engineers, data specialists and solution architects. “However, salary is no longer the sole factor determining the ability to retain technology talent. Today’s workers increasingly seek environments where they can access new technologies, participate in major projects and enjoy long-term career development opportunities,” Son said.
The competition for talents among technology companies is no longer confined to the domestic market but has expanded internationally. With the rise of remote working models, many skilled Vietnamese engineers can now work directly for foreign companies with significantly more attractive incomes.
AI reshapes the labour market and demands workforce retraining
The 2025–2026 recruitment trends report released earlier this year by ITViec shows that the technology labour market is recovering, but becoming more selective.
Some 66.1% of businesses plan to increase IT staffing in 2025, while 69.6% intend to continue expanding recruitment in 2026. However, 34.3% of companies said AI has improved productivity to the extent that they no longer need to hire additional staff.
This trend reflects a clear shift in the technology market. Businesses are no longer prioritising the recruitment of large numbers of general programmers, but are instead seeking leaner teams capable of mastering AI and participating in higher-value stages of product development.
AI is not only transforming the software industry but is also gradually reshaping Viet Nam’s entire labour market. Surveys show that as many as 40.7% of businesses have identified AI as a strategic direction for their next phase of development.
Within the IT and software industry alone, the proportion of companies choosing AI as a strategic priority reaches 58%, significantly higher than blockchain or cybersecurity. The positions expected to see the highest demand in the coming years include advanced software engineers, data engineers, data scientists and automation engineers.
According to the 2026 labour market report by Navigos Group, the ability to understand and apply technology at work, particularly AI, is currently the top requirement prioritised by businesses, cited by 76.8% of employers.
The report also shows that the rapid development of high-tech sectors such as AI, fintech and big data is shifting recruitment demand strongly towards highly specialised personnel rather than fresh graduates. AI increases individual productivity while also increasing system complexity.
Nguyen Huu Dang said that in the AI era, software engineers are no longer merely coders but must become “technology architects” capable of solving real-world problems through creative thinking and strong adaptability.
According to experts, AI is not reducing demand for technology workers but is instead restructuring the labour market in favour of high-quality human resources. Engineers capable of mastering new technologies, understanding data and possessing product-oriented thinking will become the core workforce driving digital transformation.
In this context, the challenge of training technology personnel is becoming more urgent than ever. Universities, training institutions and businesses need to work more closely together to narrow the gap between education and real market demands.
Many experts believe that competitive advantage in the AI era will no longer belong to countries with abundant labour forces, but rather to those possessing highly skilled human resources capable of creativity and rapid adaptation to technological change.
The paradox facing today’s software industry therefore does not lie in AI taking away jobs, but in the fact that AI is creating enormous demand for elite talent that the market has yet to supply quickly enough. If AI eliminates most repetitive technical tasks, how will the next generation of engineers gain experience and mature professionally? This is also a test of the adaptability of Vietnamese businesses, educational institutions and workers in the era of artificial intelligence.
