Leonardo Da Vinci Would Crush the AI Job Market—Here’s How You Can Too
Renaissance people sometimes had to write cover letters, too.
Leonardo wrote his cover letter in 1480 to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. But instead of talking about the different alloys he would use, and how the wood is prepared for bridges, he wrote:
I have plans for very light, strong and easily portable bridges with which to pursue and, on some occasions, flee the enemy, and others, sturdy and indestructible either by fire or in battle, easy and convenient to lift and place in position. Also means of burning and destroying those of the enemy.
Here’s what we can learn from Leonardo’s cover letter to enter the 2025 job market in Renaissance style. 🧑🎨
Why CVs Fail Today
Remember when programming was all about keeping up with new stuff and what was trending in our industry?
Maybe we’ve gotten lazy.
CVs today keep listing basic technical skills as unique.
“Building React apps” is no longer a differentiator.
When I was hiring for my company back in 2021, I noticed that a lot of folks were bragging about being able to code forms in React on their CVs. Fast forward to today, and it still seems like a big deal to some.
But honestly, I’ve been working with React for about 10 years now. Back in 2014, knowing how to handle React forms was impressive since it was still kind of new.
I remember this quote by Kent Beck from time to time:
What Will Happen Next
The ARC-AGI benchmark tests AI models on tasks that are easy for humans but challenging for AI. Here’s what the recent benchmark looks like with the o3 model:
The ARC-AGI score signals progress, but it also highlights the gap where human engineers excel. While AI, like the o3 model, handles specific tasks with precision, it struggles with intuitive problem-solving and understanding context—a strength of human engineers.
Why I’m showing you this?
Your role will increasingly shift toward guiding AI and applying creative, high-level thinking that machines can’t replicate.
Instead of budgeting for servers and AWS, you’ll be budgeting for AI use, especially if it’s $1000 per task.
At the same time, I’d dismiss fear-mongering such as that if you’re a CS grad you should drop out because we’re all doomed.
How To Prepare
Leonardo Da Vinci understood that the Duke of Milan didn’t really care about what alloy he used for the cannon or how he calibrated its accuracy.
So instead, he told the Duke, “Here’s what I can do for you”, closing with:
And if any of the above-mentioned things seem impossible or impracticable to anyone, I am most readily disposed to demonstrate them in your park or in whatsoever place shall please Your Excellency, to whom I commend myself with all possible humility.
If you want to future-proof yourself as a Software Engineer (it might be called something different soon), take the example of Da Vinci:
Communication
Improve how you present yourself. For example, refine your project descriptions: replace “Built a React form” with “Designed forms that reduced onboarding time by 30%.”. Improve your delivery both in person and in writing. Here are 10 Tips to Identify and Fix Your Writing as a Software Engineer.
Fundamentals
Deepen your fundamental knowledge in CS. Learn Data structures and algorithms beyond the basics. AI might outsmart you on implementation, but when thinking about systems and solutions, taking a point of view and instructing the AI to build accordingly will save you time and money in the future (remember, if you spend that $1000 on the wrong task, your stakeholders will be unhappy).
Technical Skills
Stay versatile across the stack. Full-stack development, often overlooked, offers a huge advantage. Paired with AI tools, you can deliver end-to-end projects with speed and efficiency. Imagine having an AI companion that can launch and configure instances where I want and how I want, set up load balancing and resilient distributed systems with circuit breaker and rate-limiting patterns (I’m not this smart; I read all this in Must-Known Resiliency Patterns for Distributed Systems from Saurabh Dashora) will 10x my speed of delivery as a Full-stack engineer.
AI Every Day
The best approach is to get started now and use it at every step of your workflow. See what works and where it struggles. What tasks does it absolutely excel at, and where does it need some handholding?
I don’t think it’s over for us.
On the contrary, the fun is just getting started.
Like Da Vinci, who anticipated the Duke’s needs and offered tailored solutions, we must adapt to stay relevant in 2025 and beyond.
So, how are you preparing for the future?
📰 Weekly shoutout
🧩 No more redundant engineering debates: Creating alignment and clarity with ADRs by Fran Soto
Michael Gelb - How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci in Modern Wisdom from Modern Wisdom
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Thanks for the shoutout, Akos.
Interesting article Akos. Leonardo would have absolutely nailed his job interviews in today's time I guess.
The Leonardo example shows that some foundational things don't change no matter the era. Impact matters a lot as always even in the old days and even much more now.
Also, thanks for the mention!