Boris Cherny
Head of Claude Code at Anthropic
Creator of Claude Code at Anthropic. Former Meta Principal Engineer. Author of 'Programming TypeScript'. Pioneer of AI-augmented development.
About Boris Cherny
Boris Cherny is a Staff Engineer at Anthropic and the creator of Claude Code. He previously worked at Meta as a Principal Engineer and authored “Programming TypeScript” from O’Reilly.
Career Highlights
- Anthropic (2023-present): Creator of Claude Code
- Meta (2015-2023): Principal Engineer, worked on Facebook Groups
- Programming TypeScript (2019): O’Reilly book on TypeScript
- State management: Created functional programming frameworks
Notable Positions
On Claude Code’s Impact
Real productivity metrics:
“Anthropic has tripled in headcount, but productivity per engineer has grown 70% because of Claude Code. That’s not automation replacing work - that’s augmentation creating leverage.”
On Engineering Leverage
The shrinking team size for big projects:
“A project that took 20-30 engineers two years (Facebook Groups migration) could now be done by 5 engineers in 6 months. If you ask me this question in 6 months, my answer will be totally different. In 6 months the answer might be this is actually one engineer.”
On Building for the Future
“Don’t build for the model of today. Build for the model 6 months from now. Models are moving so fast that building for today’s capabilities is already obsolete.”
On Generalists
“At Anthropic, product managers code. Data scientists code. User researchers code. This isn’t about job titles blurring - it’s about reducing the coordination costs of building.”
Key Quotes
- “70% productivity boost from Claude Code.”
- “Build for the model 6 months from now.”
- “Maybe just one engineer in 6 months.”
Related Reading
- Enterprise AI - Where Claude Code is deployed
- Application Over Training - The product focus Boris embodies
Video Mentions
Claude Code productivity impact
Anthropic has tripled in headcount, but productivity per engineer has grown 70% because of Claude Code. That's not automation replacing work - that's augmentation creating leverage.
Engineering leverage trajectory
A project that took 20-30 engineers two years (Facebook Groups migration) could now be done by 5 engineers in 6 months. In another 6 months, maybe just one.
Building for future models
Don't build for the model of today. Build for the model 6 months from now.
Claude Code's first year impact
4% of all commits in the world is just way more than I imagined. If you look at Claude Code's growth rate across any metric, it's continuing to accelerate.
Coding as solved problem
Coding is largely solved. I imagine a world where everyone is able to program. Anyone can just build software anytime.
End of software engineer title
The title software engineer is going to start to go away. It's just going to be replaced by builder.
Engineering speed forcing design transformation
Referenced by Jenny Wen: 'Boris on the podcast recently was saying Claude Code is now helping him come up with ideas.' Engineers using seven Claude agents simultaneously force design to evolve.