I'm a Gen Z Microsoft engineer. AI doesn't always save me time, but it's still made my job easier. Navya Jammalamadaka, 27, says AI tools have changed her role as a software engineer at Microsoft. Navya Jammalamadaka Navya Jammalamadaka joined Microsoft in 2024 as a software engineer. She said AI tools have become central to her job and made some tasks easier. The Gen Zer shared her top advice for using AI and breaking into the tech industry. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Navya Jammalamadaka, a 27-year-old software engineer at Microsoft who lives in Redmond, Washington. The following has been edited for length and clarity. I'm still fairly early in my career, but I've seen software engineering roles change a lot. I used to go to work and code for five to six hours a day without the assistance of an AI tool. Now, my job is more like being the architect — guiding AI to write the code while I design the system. At Microsoft, there's definitely been a push to adopt AI .…