AI Coding Agents: How Engineers 10x Their Output

In this episode of Shipping Excellence, Andrew Duncan sits down with Aram Hammoudeh, a Principal AI-Native Engineer at Vertice Labs, to explore how AI coding agents are transforming the way software gets built.Aram shares what it feels like to go from “grunt developer” to directing a team of AI agents, how tools like Cursor, Copilot, and Claude accelerate delivery, and why the real role of engineers today is shifting toward strategy, architecture, and orchestration.We cover:How AI coding agents give engineers 10x productivity gainsThe difference between GPT-4.0 and GPT-5 in real development workWhy AI is best thought of as a “junior developer” you can delegate toHow MCP servers and Linear integrations automate project managementGuardrails and feedback loops that keep AI-generated code reliableThe mindset engineers need to thrive in an AI-native worldWhether you’re a technical leader, founder, or engineer in the trenches, this conversation shows what it really looks like to deliver production-ready software with AI agents as part of the team.