Knowing how to write code is no longer relevant.
Machine translation from the original post. Not reviewed by a human translator. Historical claims may no longer be current.
Knowing how to write code is no longer relevant.
All the years of investment and what we learned have become marginal; the revolution that happened in an instant less than two years ago - the one that spread and keeps growing and sweeping like a tsunami through the software world - created a new agenda.
The only thing that matters today is knowing how to control AI. The profession is changing and whoever misses this will be left behind.
Writing code has gone from a goal to a by-product. Democratization of code. Anyone can ask the computer in simple language to create code for them; it's no longer reserved for experts only (you).
The statement that AI will replace us is true, but it's not you as a person, it's your profession. It's replacing at an unprecedented pace everyone who still works the old way, who types their code themselves on the keyboard. If you're not yet working with AI then this post is a wake-up call for you - it will meet you at the next stop in your career.
By the way, if you already work with AI but feel FOMO, know that it's a general feeling among everyone. We're all inside this rolling event and at the beginning of the revolution, there is still no solid foundation or rules written from years of experience, and the infrastructure for the future is being written these days. Imagine the internet revolution at the start. The Altavista search engine that Google replaced. The Netscape browser that Chrome later replaced, and countless other examples.
And like every revolution, here too the rate of adoption together with the rate of development are unprecedented.
It's not only a "change of trend", but a replacement of infrastructure. We are at a moment in the history of technology in which the profession is being redefined, and whoever tries to cling to the horns of the altar of "writing code manually as the supreme value" may really find themselves out of the game.
The only thing known is that we're inside a rolling event and therefore what matters is the need to roll up our sleeves and be in constant learning of the field and the tools. You don't need to know every tool in the world (an impossible task) but to know the new concepts and practice the optimal way to work with code agents.
(Once you learn that, you also discover the tools are quite similar to each other).
In this new agenda we are moving from "code writers" to architects of intelligence. The skills required of us today are one floor up:
- The emphasis moves from writing and checking code and syntax to architecture and systems design. The more code AI produces, the ability to connect the pieces into a big, stable picture becomes the most valuable asset
- Critical thinking and debugging ability are needed more than ever. AI is a "junior programmer with excessive self-confidence". Someone who doesn't know how to read code and understand its logic in depth won't be able to critique the AI's outputs and will fall into its traps (AI "hallucinations").
- Managing AI systems: the ability to operate several models, choose the most optimal for the task, connect them in Agents, and build workflows that save the work of an entire team of flesh and blood.
One last point -
The fact that there are still no "rules written from experience" is the opportunity for everyone, and also a danger for existing companies. At this point in time, the advantage of a programmer with 20 years of experience over a brilliant junior has shrunk significantly, because both are learning a completely new tool simultaneously. The same goes for companies with dozens or hundreds of employees competing against ventures run by dozens or hundreds of AI agents.
Large and small companies alike are losing sleep in the struggle to stay relevant in the new reality, in the eye of the storm.
This post is a wake-up call. Code isn't dead, it has just become "transparent".
We no longer dig holes with a shovel (keyboard), we operate a powerful excavator (AI).
Whoever only knows how to "dig" will be replaced. Whoever knows how to operate the machine and plan the building will become more relevant than ever.
Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, etc.. choose the tool and specialize in it.
