Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu warns software engineers: ‘High salary not birthright… Can't assume it will stay forever’

Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu has sounded a warning for software engineers – their high salaries must not be taken for granted and it can't be assumed that this pay will last forever.

In a post on X, Vembu said that software engineers can be ‘disrupted’ given the productivity revolution coming to the field.

The Zoho CEO in his post warned that software engineers' high pay is not “some birthright”.

“I have often said this to our employees: the fact that software engineers get paid better than mechanical engineers or civil engineers or chemists or school teachers is not some birthright and we cannot take that for granted, and we cannot assume it will last forever,” Vembu said, adding, “The fact that customers pay for our products also cannot be taken for granted.”

Vembu said that software engineers need to remind themselves that they are likely to be disrupted.

"This is to remind ourselves that we can be "disrupted" - and the more we assume we won't be, the more likely we will be. Or as Andy Grove of Intel said "Only the paranoid survive"," he said.

The Zoho CEO called his advice “necessary to internalise”.

“The productivity revolution I see coming to software development (LLMs + tooling) could destroy a lot of software jobs. This is sobering but necessary to internalize.”

Sridhar Vembu's post starts serious conversation

The recent post by Sridhar Vembu triggered a serious conversation on the internet, with users saying factors like artificial intelligence will ‘flip’ the current setup.

“AI along with de-dollarization will flip the script. I think we are at the edge of this shift. Software devs, bankers, and consultants got fat paychecks from all the easy money. As that fades, civil, mechanical, and materials engineers, those building real stuff, will rise,” a user said.

Another user highlighted the shrinking job opportunities for software engineers, many of whose jobs are being replaced by younger employees with lower pay.

“Well elucidated. Salary levels of s/w engineers are questioned now. The more critical thing is shrinking job opportunities for s/w engineers. Youngsters aspiring to get into the profession and lay off of current employees,” the user said.

Another commenter said that unless India starts innovating, the country would go ‘digitally unemployed’.

“India doesn't start innovating, we'll go from being the world's back office to being digitally unemployed. Will India continue to be a nation of IT coolies for foreign innovation, or will it finally start creating?” he asked.