JetBrains vs Windsurf

AI Reduces Entry-Level Hiring in Software Development

A JetBrains survey of over 15,000 developers shows 90% use AI coding agents at least weekly. A Stanford study 'Canaries in the Coal Mine' reports a 20% decline in employment for software developers aged 22-25 in the US since late 2022, while experienced developers see growth. This trend worries the author, Dr. Volker Oshege, chairman of viadee, as it threatens the future talent pipeline. He argues that AI shifts bottlenecks to review capacity and guardrails, requiring human judgment. He advocates for mixed teams, buddy systems, and continuous training to ensure the workforce of 2036. The article is an opinion piece, not a news report, and contains no specific corporate announcements or financial data.

• A JetBrains survey found 90% of developers use AI coding agents at least weekly.
• A Stanford study shows a 20% employment decline for software developers aged 22-25 in the US since late 2022.
• The article is authored by Dr. Volker Oshege, chairman of viadee Unternehmensberatung AG.

A New Agentic Experience: JetBrains Air in IDEs – EAP Now Open

Last week, we shared our point of view on where we think agentic development is headed and introduced JetBrains' answer to it: JetBrains Air, an open system of products for agentic development. To…

Air Teams: Bring Your Best Agentic Workflows to the Whole Team – and Automate Repeatable Work

JetBrains announced Air Teams on September 28, 2026, as the team layer for agentic development, providing humans and agents with shared context, environments, tools, and instructions. Air Teams includes Automations for recurring tasks, shared cloud environments, cloud tasks that run independently of a developer's laptop, and team projects with roles and credits. It is available immediately to JetBrains business customers, with plans to expand access to individual customers later.

• JetBrains announced Air Teams on September 28, 2026, as the team layer for agentic development.
• Air Teams is immediately available to JetBrains business customers; individual customer access is planned later.
• Air Teams includes four components: Automations, shared cloud environments, cloud tasks, and team projects.

Agentic IDEs Compared: Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf

A 2026 hands-on comparison of three agentic IDEs — Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf — finds no single winner. Claude Code excels at terminal-native, autonomous multi-file refactors using MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers and scripting/CI integration. Cursor, a VSCode fork, leads on real-time autocomplete and inline edits but struggles with large cross-file agentic tasks. Windsurf adds governance (approval gates, audit logs) for compliance-focused teams, trading speed for auditability. Benchmarks show Claude Code completed 87% of a multi-file TypeScript refactor autonomously, Cursor 34%, and Windsurf 41%; all tools still required human review for edge cases.

• Article compares three agentic IDEs: Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.
• Claude Code completed 87% of a multi-file TypeScript refactoring autonomously in the benchmark.
• Cursor completed 34% of the same refactor autonomously (chat mode) and focuses on VSCode-integrated autocomplete.

Choose AI Coding Tools by Execution Model, Not Autocomplete

The article argues that comparing AI coding tools by autocomplete latency is misleading; instead, choose based on where and how the AI executes work. It describes four execution models—IDE assistants/agentic editors, local terminal agents, cloud coding agents, and hosted application environments—and maps common products to each model. The author recommends a reproducible two-week pilot for evaluation, outlines security best practices before granting write access, and explains total cost considerations beyond seat pricing. The guidance emphasizes task-driven evaluation (e.g., cross-file edits, debug loops, runnable prototypes) and enterprise checks like identity, permissions, spending limits, and vendor exit planning.

• The author identifies four execution models for AI coding tools: IDE assistants/agentic editors, local terminal agents, cloud coding agents, and hosted application environments.
• Cursor and Windsurf are described as editors with agent abilities (IDE assistants/agentic editors).
• Claude Code is characterized as a local terminal agent that reads repositories, edits files, and runs commands on the user's machine.