Head of Engineering at Sourcegraph leading development of Amp, an enterprise agentic coding agent. Co-authoring “Vibe Coding” with Gene Kim and Dario Amodei. Creator of Beads, the open-source coding agent memory system.
Pioneer of Code Intelligence & Vibe Coding
Steve Yegge is a legendary software engineer at the forefront of AI-driven development, championing “vibe coding” - a paradigm shift where AI agents handle implementation while developers focus on high-level intent. Known for influential, provocative writing that shapes industry conversations, including the famous 2011 “Platform Rant” comparing Amazon and Google’s engineering cultures.
Current Work
At Sourcegraph, Steve leads the development of Amp, an enterprise agentic coding agent with team-oriented design. He’s championing the bold thesis that traditional IDEs are already obsolete, using Claude Code 14 hours/day to prove the point. His latest creation, Beads, solves agent amnesia by providing persistent, graph-based memory for coding agents (1,000 stars in 6 days).
Key projects: Amp, Beads, Vibe Coding Book with Gene Kim
Recent writing: Introducing Beads, Cheese Wars: Rise of the Vibe Coder, Zero Framework Cognition
Background
40+ years in tech including 19 years combined at Google and Amazon. At Google (2005-2018), built Grok, the internal code intelligence platform that evolved into Kythe. At Amazon (1998-2005), witnessed the platform transformation as Senior Manager. Came out of retirement to join Sourcegraph for SCIP and agent development.
Philosophy on AI-Driven Development
Steve’s contrarian vision challenges the software engineering status quo:
Traditional IDEs are obsolete - “If you are still using an IDE by Jan 1st you are a bad engineer.” AI agents represent the future.
Models are ready - The bottleneck isn’t model capability; it’s tooling and human adaptation. Current models are “smart enough, strictly.”
Ants vs. divers - Many specialized agents beat one powerful agent. Context windows are like oxygen tanks - use them strategically.
10x productivity is real - Enterprise case studies at Traveloppia, Cisco, Capital One, and Fidelity prove dramatic efficiency gains.
Trust through practice - AI trust increases with experience, building Fingerspitzengefuhl (intuitive feel) through repeated use.
Sourcegraph
Sourcegraph provides code intelligence and AI-powered development tools for enterprises. The company’s mission is to make it so everyone can code, enabling organizations to leverage AI agents for software development at scale. Amp represents the next evolution of their vision, moving beyond code search to full agentic development.
Conference Appearance
Session: “2026: The Year the IDE Died” with Gene Kim Date: November 20, 2025, 10:05 AM
Steve presented a bold vision that traditional IDEs are already obsolete, using the Swiss Watchmaker analogy: just as craftsmen were displaced by automation, engineers who resist AI-assisted development will become obsolete. Shared enterprise validation from Traveloppia (4-6 week legacy replacement, team size halved), Cisco (mandates vibe coding for senior devs), and Fortune 500 companies. Introduced Gene Kim’s FAAFO Framework: Faster, Ambitious, Alone, Fun, Options - principles for vibe coding transformation.