Engineers Shift Toward Orchestrating Autonomous Coding Agents

A recent analysis argues software engineers are shifting from single-agent 'conductor' roles to 'orchestrator' roles managing fleets of autonomous coding agents. It contrasts conductor workflows—synchronous, in-IDE sessions using tools like Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and Cursor—with orchestrator tools that run asynchronous, parallel agents, exemplified by GitHub Copilot's coding agent. The shift implies engineers will emphasize coordination, review, and integration over manual coding.