“AI Can Write the Code Now.” An Interview with Ondřej Synek on How Custom Software Development Is Changing

Ondřej, what does a typical software development company look like today?

The question is: what exactly is a typical software development company? Every company works a little differently. What is clear, however, is that the position of software development companies in the market is changing.

Artificial intelligence is where we see this most clearly. It is being used not only by developers, but also by analysts and project managers. At virtually every stage of a project, AI can speed something up or simplify the process.

AI is making the entire development process faster. This is perhaps most noticeable in custom software development. If something that used to take six months can now be delivered significantly faster, clients naturally expect that to be reflected in the price as well. And that is another major change software development companies are facing.

Does faster and more affordable development also bring new risks?

Definitely. A large number of companies have entered the market that build applications primarily through vibe coding. At first glance, these applications may work well, but problems often emerge later when it comes to scalability, security or further development.

There is also a risk when a developer is able to create something with AI but does not fully understand it themselves.Clients therefore need to decide whether their priority is mainly speed and a low price, or a high-quality solution that will stand the test of time.

Is the ability to write high-quality code still a competitive advantage?

I don’t think code alone is enough anymore. AI can write it very quickly. What matters more is how you design the system as a whole, how you approach its architecture and whether the resulting software actually addresses the client’s needs.

References and experience are becoming increasingly important to clients. A company can say: we have been in the market for this many years, we have delivered these projects, and we still have a team of people who understand software development from the ground up and know how to use new technologies effectively.

How has AI changed the value of developers themselves?

Today, a developer needs a much deeper understanding of the project’s business logic. It is no longer enough to receive a task and simply write the code. They need to understand why a feature is being developed, who will use it and what other parts of the system might be affected by a change.

At the same time, artificial intelligence allows developers to take responsibility for larger parts of a system. They might, for example, handle an entire module, but they need to know how to instruct AI correctly and review its output. Traditional developers are therefore not disappearing. Their role is simply evolving.

Can smaller companies compete more effectively with larger ones thanks to AI?

I think so. With AI, a small team can now accomplish things that previously required significantly more resources. At the same time, however, more competitors have entered the market and we are all feeling greater pressure on pricing.

It still depends on what the client is looking for. A smaller team may be perfectly capable of delivering a simpler custom application. But with a complex system, you also need to consider architecture, security, support and long-term development. That is where the biggest differences between software vendors become apparent.

Is the developer becoming more of an architect – or someone who manages AI?

To some extent, yes. Developers now put together larger parts of systems, work with AI-generated outputs and think more about the solution as a whole. There is still demand for traditional developers, though.

What their work will look like in five years – or perhaps even in just two or three – is difficult to predict. What is already clear is that someone who simply receives a specification and translates it into code will be in a more difficult position than before.

Is there still a place for junior developers in this new environment?

The traditional junior developer, who used to be given simple tasks and trained by the company over several years, is now in a more difficult position. Artificial intelligence can perform much of that work faster and at a lower cost.

Junior developers are not going to disappear. But we need to rethink what we expect them to know. Claude and other models can help them enormously, but they still need to understand the fundamentals, know how code is structured and, above all, think critically about what the model is suggesting.

How have all these changes affected MEMOS Software?

The biggest change we feel is the pressure to deliver faster. At the same time, new tools have enabled us to modernise more of our own infrastructure. We are building a new internal core system that will be used by developers, project managers, analysts, HR and other teams across the company.

Our approach to clients, however, has not changed that much. Support, for example, is still handled by people. We don’t use artificial intelligence simply because we can. When clients have a problem, they still want to talk to a real person – whether over the phone or via live chat.

One area that has changed significantly is software prototyping. In the past, prototypes were primarily part of the analysis phase. Today, we can prepare them much faster. This means clients can already see how their future software could work at the proposal stage.

Software development is changing faster than ever before. AI is accelerating processes, reducing costs and reshaping the role of developers. But one thing remains the same: high-quality software is not created simply by writing code. You still need to understand the business, design the right solution and take responsibility for the result.

Thank you to Ondřej for sharing his perspective on where custom software development is heading. If you are interested in how new technologies are changing software development in practice, follow MEMOS Software and Ondřej Synek on LinkedIn.