I think it comes as no surprise to anyone when I say that AI has fundamentally changed the way we build software. The reality has shifted from "I have this idea, is it worth spending time building it?" to "Took me 5min to get this mvp, what do I want to do with it?". The coding time has shrunk so much that the vast majority of ideas can quickly transform into a working prototype in a matter of hours if not minutes. So many features that used to be considered too complex/costly to build are now one prompt away. In this new landscape, many developers I've been talking to are starting to worry about their future in the industry.

• "Will I be able to keep up with the pace of change?"
• "Is AI going to replace my job?"
• "Shoud I pivot to a new career?"

And I'm not going to lie, I've been feeling like this too at first. So I decided to take a step back and look at what happened during past revolutions. I think it's always interesting to look at history and see how things turned out in similar cases:

• Email made office workers go from mailing and faxing documents to instant communication.
• Internet made traditional media go from print to digital.
• Spreadsheets made accountants go from calculation to data modeling.

And so on...

Until now. This change is now happening in software engineering as well, and it's happening fast. But here is the thing:

"Software engineering has never been about writing code."

Coding used to be one of the most time consuming parts of the job. Some of us even used to identify as "coders" or "developers", but it was never what engineering was about.

If we look at the etymology of the word, Engineering is about solving problems, which means that software engineering is about solving problems with software. However, solving problems != writing code. The solving part requires architectural thinking, plannification, and a deep understanding of the business requirements. It's a subtle mix of critical thinking, creativity, and technical expertise. Coding is simply the tool we use to translate these decisions into reality.

This is how AI made me realize that coding has never been my favorite part of the job. In fact, the main reason I got into this industry in the first place was to build stuff; The 20yo me trying to make his own Netflix because I didn't want to pay for it the challenge of building something ambitious from scratch was so exciting. Or that time I reversed engineered the youtube music api to build my own music player. I've always been looking for that moment where you're facing a problem that seems impossible to solve at first, but you somehow figure out a solution. This is what excites me the most.

That's why I feel nothing but gratitude to live in the AI era. Not because it's going to take my job, but because it has enabled me to build stuff like never before. I can single-handedly take on things that used to require a team of 10 engineers and 6 months of work. The reality has shifted, we can either embrace it or get left behind.

So for everyone out there feeling like they are being replaced by AI, I think the real question is:

What are you the most excited about?
Building stuff or writing code?