Developer Replacement Hype Cycle
30 May 2025
Nice article on The Recurring Cycle of 'Developer Replacement' Hype - every decade or so we will have new technology that will promise to make developers obsolete.
The most valuable skill in software isn't writing code, it's architecting systems.
This is so true. I have worked with developers who write code but cannot look at systems and how everything will eventually connect. Stepping out of code and looking at the problem from the outside is going to be a coveted skill. Even in my current projects, code is not the hero. It's about how do we design the entire system and look at this piece of the problem from the sky than from the ground.
I liked the last few paras as well...
Here's what the "AI will replace developers" crowd fundamentally misunderstands: code is not an asset—it's a liability. Every line must be maintained, debugged, secured, and eventually replaced. The real asset is the business capability that code enables.
If AI makes writing code faster and cheaper, it's really making it easier to create liability. When you can generate liability at unprecedented speed, the ability to manage and minimize that liability strategically becomes exponentially more valuable.