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| AI is blurring the lines between different tech roles and opening up room for generalists, said Figma's CEO Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch |
Being a generalist has always had its advantages, but in the age of AI, it may be one of the most valuable career strategies. That’s the view of Figma CEO Dylan Field, who recently told Y Combinator that artificial intelligence is accelerating a shift toward “generalist behavior” in the workplace.
“This was happening before AI, but it’s happening even more with AI,” Field said during a conversation published on Saturday. “There’s something about AI that empowers generalist behavior.” In his view, AI tools are breaking down the walls between traditionally separate roles in product creation — from design and development to research and product management. “Product is also blurring with design and development and potentially even parts of research,” he said. “All this is becoming less distinct, and it’s all kind of coming together more.”
From IPO Spotlight to Industry Shifts
Field’s comments come just months after Figma’s blockbuster public debut. On July 31, the design software company went public at a $19.3 billion valuation — nearly matching the price Adobe had agreed to pay in a failed 2022 acquisition. The IPO was widely regarded as the hottest tech listing of the year, breaking a three-year dry spell for major U.S. tech offerings. By the close of trading on its first day, Figma’s stock had more than tripled its IPO price, briefly pushing its valuation to almost $68 billion before cooling to around $38 billion.
The company celebrated the milestone with a massive block party outside the New York Stock Exchange — a fitting moment for a startup whose collaborative design platform has become a go-to tool for tech companies and creative teams worldwide. But while Wall Street was celebrating, Field was already looking ahead at how AI will reshape the roles of the very designers who use Figma’s software.
Why Designers Could Hold More Leverage in the AI Era
According to Field, as AI makes it easier and faster to build software, design will emerge as an even more critical differentiator. “In this age of AI, if you really believe that development gets easier and it’s more simple to create software, it’s faster to create software — then what is your differentiator? It’s design, it’s craft, it’s attention to detail,” he said.
In his view, this shift will put designers in a position of greater influence. As products become technically easier to build, the quality of the user experience, the emotional resonance of design choices, and the subtle details of execution will matter more than ever. “There will be a lot of curation involved and a lot of leadership will be needed from designers,” Field said. “So they have to step up.” He predicts that more designers will move into founder and leadership roles as their skills become increasingly central to a product’s success.
Generalists Over Specialists: A Growing Consensus in Tech
Field’s endorsement of generalists puts him in line with a growing chorus of Silicon Valley leaders who see adaptability as the most important skill in the AI age. Earlier this month, billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla advised young people not to anchor their career plans to a single profession. “You have to optimize your career for flexibility, not a single profession,” he said on a podcast. “That’s the most important advice because you don’t know what will be around.”
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, offered similar guidance earlier this year, saying that outside a handful of deep-specialty areas like biotech and foundational AI models, people should focus on broadening their skills. “With these new tools, I would probably bet more on basically people who are able to be broad,” he said in May. “Which is to say basically knowing something about a lot of different aspects of life and how the world works.”
The Bigger Picture
The AI revolution is redefining what it means to build products — and who gets to lead that process. Where once design, development, and product strategy might have been handled by siloed teams, AI is enabling individuals to work across disciplines, blurring the boundaries between roles. For Field, that means a future where the most successful professionals won’t just be specialists in a single craft but adaptable problem-solvers who can bridge multiple areas of expertise.
And in that future, designers may find themselves with a seat not just at the table, but at the head of it.
