AI is reshaping how developers learn, grow, and navigate their careers, and the latest Agoda AI Developer Report 2025 makes that shift impossible to ignore. The findings show a regional workforce leveling up at unprecedented speed, often without institutional support. Developers are teaching themselves AI faster than many companies can roll out structured training, accelerating innovation while widening gaps in access and preparedness.

The report, based on responses from developers across Southeast Asia and India, captures a clear trend: AI is now the center of career strategy. Eighty-seven percent of developers have changed their learning priorities because of AI, and 62% believe it will create more opportunities than it replaces. Yet most of this growth is happening independently. Seventy-two percent are self-taught, while only 28% receive employer-backed training.

This divide reflects a broader issue. Organizations are struggling to keep pace with the fast-moving expectations of AI-driven work. As companies ramp up internal education, many developers have already built their own pathways—leaning heavily on open-source communities, online platforms, and peer-driven experimentation.

Peer Learning Is Winning Where Formal Training Lags

With traditional programs unable to scale quickly, developers are turning to decentralized learning. More than 52% now rely on online communities or open-source projects as their primary AI education hubs. This shift fuels a culture built on rapid experimentation, shared code, and distributed problem-solving.

However, momentum varies across the region. Access to formal training differs significantly by geography. Developers in Singapore are almost twice as likely to receive structured AI education compared to those in Vietnam. Senior engineers also report far higher confidence than juniors, revealing a 25-point experience gap that mentorship and structured training could address.

These disparities hint at a future where AI skills become a differentiator not only between companies but across entire economies.

AI Skills Are Becoming a Baseline Requirement

The speed of AI adoption also brings new pressures. Forty-four percent of developers worry they may fall behind, given how quickly tools evolve. Meanwhile, 58% believe AI proficiency has already become a standard hiring requirement.

As a result, the regional developer ecosystem is more ambitious, adaptable, and self-sufficient—but also under strain. Developers are moving fast, but without consistent guidance, the path becomes uneven.

Idan Zalzberg, Chief Technology Officer at Agoda, explains the dynamic clearly. Developers see AI as an accelerator, not a replacement. Yet they are upskilling faster than many organizations can react. Zalzberg emphasizes the need for companies to establish systems of trust and accountability if they want to harness this momentum effectively.

Agoda's Playbook: Build Trust, Enable Experimentation

Agoda is investing heavily in those systems. The company has created an internal ecosystem designed to support ongoing AI education and experimentation.

Its initiatives include:

• Internal AI hackathons that encourage hands-on exploration

• Regular tech talks and knowledge-sharing sessions to expand peer learning

• Tech Camp Day, a social impact program that has provided thousands of Thai students with essential tech skills

These efforts help strengthen both Agoda’s engineering teams and the broader tech communities where the company operates. The focus is on long-term capability building, not short-term skill spikes.

A Regional Snapshot of AI Adoption

The AI Developer Report 2025 also includes insight from leading regional companies such as Carousell, MoMo, Omise, and SCB 10x. Together, their input reveals a rapidly evolving ecosystem shaped by grassroots learning as much as enterprise adoption.

Developers across Southeast Asia and India are integrating AI into their work faster than ever. While this speed fuels innovation, it also exposes gaps between those with access to structured training and those without. If companies want to build resilient, future-ready tech teams, they will need to close those gaps.

For now, the message is clear: developers aren’t waiting for permission. They’re already building the AI future themselves.

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