Google Cloud executive’s tip to Computer Science students: It’s not just about prompts, but what….

Google Cloud’s chief technology officer, Will Grannis, believes the fundamentals of computer science remain vital—even as the tech industry undergoes dramatic changes driven by artificial intelligence. In a recent interview with Business Insider, Grannis said “You still have to understand, you know, how computers work, how data stores work.” “Because that context will allow you to think about how you design something for efficiency and value,” he further added.Grannis emphasized that a traditional computer science degree or coding program is still a solid foundation for entering the tech workforce.He said professionals need to prepare for the era of agentic AI, where understanding the data, tools, and systems behind the AI is just as important as the user inputs.“You’re moving from like in the old days, we had to think about it at the application layer and just kind of stop there,” Grannis said. “Now, we’re entering the era of context engineering.”“So it’s not just about prompts,” he added, “but what data, what tools, what systems does your AI, does your multi-agent system need in order to function correctly?”

Learn beyond the classroom: Google CTO to students

While Grannis stands by the value of formal education, he also encouraged job seekers to learn beyond the curriculum. He said today’s tech professionals should adopt modern tools and systems to keep pace with AI’s rapid evolution.“That’s what I’ve been doing my entire career,” he said. “Formal education wouldn’t have been enough for me to stay current.”He gave an example of his approach, revealing that he’s encouraging his global team to use AI during an upcoming hackathon. “We’re going to use AI to just generate code, to modify it, to steer it, to refine it,” Grannis explained. He also warned that mastering prompt engineering alone isn’t enough, saying that while it’s important, it has started to become “boilerplate code.”