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Cisco President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel has backed an ambitious software modernization effort, granting 27-year-old employee Padmanabhan "Paddy" Krishnamurthy unlimited AI tokens to help rewrite 98% of the company's legacy code within 24 months. Krishnamurthy, a former CEO and cofounder of translation startup EzDubs, joined Cisco after the business was acquired and set an initial four-week window to demonstrate a working proof of concept. [1][2]
The project originated when Krishnamurthy proposed tackling the massive overhaul with just one other person after Patel found him working in an unstrategic role five levels down in the organization. While Krishnamurthy's small group of two or three will serve as an initial catalyst, Patel noted that Cisco's broader engineering teams will take final ownership of the refactored code. The effort is intended to help the company's engineers build software faster and transition systems toward memory-safe languages that guard against security vulnerabilities. [1][2]
A 27-year-old former startup CEO has been given unlimited AI tokens to help overhaul Cisco’s legacy code. The target is 98% within two years. President Jeetu Patel has told him to “go nuts,” while clarifying that Cisco’s wider engineering teams will also be involved.
via Notebookcheck
Cisco President Jeetu Patel has handed a 27-year-old ex-startup founder a huge job to rewrite 98% of Cisco's legacy code within 24 months.
via Tom’s Hardware