AI Transformation Hits India’s Tech Apprenticeship, Fresh Hiring at Historic Low, TechGig
The Indian software services industry has witnessed a dramatic shift in entry-level hiring, with artificial intelligence (AI) fundamentally reshaping the traditional apprenticeship model for software engineers.
Fresher intake plummeted from nearly 600,000 in FY22 to a mere 60,000-70,000 two years later, marking the lowest figures in almost two decades. This decline is not merely a cyclical downturn but a structural change driven by AI’s capability to perform tasks historically assigned to new graduates.
AI Replaces Foundational Work
AI has proven exceptionally adept at tasks such as writing boilerplate code, generating test cases, and updating documentation. These activities traditionally formed the crucial first two years of a software engineer’s career, providing the repetitive exposure needed to build tacit knowledge understanding why systems fail or how customers think.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted that 20-30% of code in some company repositories is now AI-generated, while GitHub research showed developers using Copilot completed standard coding tasks 55% faster. This efficiency means one experienced engineer with AI can now accomplish what previously required a small team of juniors, permanently altering hiring mathematics.
The Tacit Knowledge Gap
The core challenge lies in the acquisition of tacit knowledge, which is earned through on-the-job experience rather than taught in colleges. With AI automating much of the “grunt work” that built this experience, the industry faces a critical question: where will future engineers gain the practical intuition and pattern recognition necessary for senior roles?Stanford Digital Economy Lab research indicates that employment for US workers aged 22-25 in AI-exposed occupations, including software development, fell 13% since late 2022, with under-25 software developers down nearly 20% since 2024. This suggests a global trend where entry-level opportunities are disappearing.
Industry Responds to New Demands
Indian IT majors are adapting to this new reality. TCS, for instance, cut approximately 12,000 jobs in 2025 as part of a “transformation to make the company future ready,” while targeting fresher hiring in areas like AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and Global Capability Centres (GCCs).Microsoft’s Satya Nadella described the emergence of a “full stack builder” role, merging design, program management, product management, and front-end engineering. This senior-level role, however, implicitly assumes an apprenticeship that is now being dismantled. Freshers with AI and cloud skills are already commanding salaries of Rs 7-8.5 lakh in India, roughly double traditional service packages, according to TeamLease Digital data.
Redesigning Professional Development
To address this structural shift, individuals and companies must proactively redesign professional development. For developers, this means going broad while maintaining one deep skill, practicing supervision of AI-generated output, shipping complete projects, and staying close to customer interactions to acquire tacit knowledge.
Companies, on their part, must deliberately rebuild apprenticeship models through pair working, structured design reviews, direct customer exposure, and job rotations. Educational institutions in India also need to evolve their curricula beyond prompt writing, focusing on ambiguous business problems, reviewing AI output, and understanding end-to-end systems.
India’s long-term advantage will depend not on the sheer number of engineers produced, but on how quickly they become valuable in an AI-driven economy.
