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Ananya Kapoor, software engineer at financial services company Stripe, uses Claude Code every day.

Sometimes she’s leveraging the AI assistant to explore a new idea; other mornings, she’s relying on it to investigate an error. The tool helps her understand how different components of code interact, and how those connections may lead to unexpected results.

“It’s pretty helpful…in terms of going in and really analyzing the code base,” Kapoor said, “because I think that is what is really tough for humans.”

And Kapoor is not alone in her choice of AI tool. According to an annual survey from software engineering intelligence platform Jellyfish, Claude Code is the most popular AI coding tool; Almost four in 10 (39%) of 636 surveyed global engineering professionals said they use it. Other top choices included Gemini Code Assist (35%), GitHub Copilot (31%), and OpenAI Codex (20%).

Which do IT pros prefer?—BH

Microsoft appoints Jon Friedman as company’s first chief design officer

Tech giant Microsoft created the role of chief design officer and filled the position May 14. Jon Friedman, a longtime Microsoft employee, will take on the role; he described it as one that will “reduce fragmentation, increase alignment, and make innovation at scale real across the company” in a post on LinkedIn announcing his appointment.

Friedman has been working his way through the Microsoft ranks since 2004. He was previously corporate VP of design and research.

“As the practice of design evolves, UX practitioners are becoming more technical, working across the full stack of the experience,” Friedman wrote on LinkedIn. “From interface and interaction design to the intelligence underneath, human-centered thinking has to be present at every layer.”

Carving out a role.—EH

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