I have to confess,
I’ve never felt this weird feeling of excitement and complete bizarreness at the same time.
AI is taking software development seriously, and for a lot of people this can feel overwhelming. I can see it in the way I used to write code; it drastically shifted from carefully crafting code to literally writing English words and letting Claude Code handle the rest.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s still enormous skill and effort required to build high-quality software. Right now, a senior engineer will still produce better outcomes than a junior one, even with AI assistance. But I’m not so sure that will still be true in a few more months or years.
I completely agree with @andrej there is a new set of skills to be mastered for a technical “developer” involving agents, subagents, their prompts, contexts, memory, modes, permissions, tools, plugins, skills, etc.
Code is not the bottleneck anymore, and that’s fine. Code, in the end, is a way for programmers to express themselves through software, much like artists express themselves through art.
AI is reshaping the job of engineering, and there’s a huge opportunity cost attached to that. You can literally work on 10 different projects in parallel, and all of them can work just fine. Because we can create far more value with software than ever before, doing nothing is also a huge loss.
I know many people who have bootstrapped $50K+ MRR SaaS products without ever knowing how to code. For engineers to do the same, a new set of skills has to be learned. I believe great engineers today are those who can code, design, market, talk to people, own things end-to-end, lead projects, move fast, communicate their work, and understand the financials.
These are hard skills to acquire because they’re not theoretical. It comes from making mistakes and putting in real work. Those who can build with speed and precision, gather feedback, respond to customer needs, are the profiles everyone is looking for. There’s nothing new here, it’s just becoming more obvious.
We, as engineers, are often shy about speaking in public. Because of judgment, because our work is exposed, not perfect. And I’m guilty of that too. It takes effort and consistency to get past it.
Lately, I’ve wanted to write more about my thoughts and share them online. I have a few ideas, so I decided to start a blog as a first move of 2026. I’ll probably post regularly, maybe some technical articles as well, or random stuff.
We’re living in an interesting period. I’m keeping myself optimistic and hopeful about the future.
Anyway, I wish you all a happy new year! Best of luck and good health <3