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13.3Skills Trajectory
| Increasing in Importance | Stable | Decreasing in Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Systems thinking — how components interact, how changes propagate, where failures originate | Programming — frameworks, pipelines, and tools still require code | Manual test execution — shifts to exploratory and judgment-heavy scenarios |
| Data analysis — collecting, analyzing, interpreting quality metrics | Debugging — root cause analysis is perennial | Tool-specific expertise — principles transfer; AI generates boilerplate |
| Communication — explaining risk to non-technical stakeholders | Domain knowledge — irreplaceable, cannot be automated | Test case documentation — executable tests replace spreadsheets |
| Architecture — participating in design reviews, identifying testability issues | ||
| AI fluency — directing AI tools, evaluating output critically |