It Started Pure
I started my career as a frontend developer.
Write a few lines of code, something appears on the screen. Create a button, it actually clicks. What I built actually worked. It was simple. The output was tangible. The program existed.
Back then, I thought that was "development."
Then, the Existential Crisis Hit
As my corporate tenure extended, something felt off.
Am I actually developing? Or am I just grinding through tasks like some glorified day laborer?
JavaScript. TypeScript. React. Vue. I wasn't leveraging these tools to architect services or engineer elegant structures. I was simply… complying. Subordinating myself to their paradigms.
React dictates this approach? Done. TypeScript mandates that pattern? Implemented. Vue documentation says this is best practice? Copy-pasted.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped using the tools. The tools started using me.
Languages, Frameworks, Libraries. They're Just Tools.
Sounds obvious, right? But how many developers genuinely internalize this?
A real developer should be tool-agnostic. When a problem emerges, you select the appropriate instrument. You comprehend each tool's strengths and limitations. You calculate trade-offs. You make contextual decisions.
But reality?
"I have 5 years of Java experience."
"I'm a React specialist."
"I'm a Spring master."
This is what goes on résumés. This is what gets flexed in interviews. This is what earns clout in dev communities.
I've Never Heard of a "Hammer Specialist" in My Entire Life
Think about it for a second.
"I'm a hammer expert."
"I've been sawing for 10 years."
"I'm a drill master."
Ever encountered these job titles? Didn't think so.
Master carpenters exist. Exceptional tile artisans exist. Renowned architects exist. But hammer specialists? Saw experts? They don't exist. Why? Because that's not a profession. That's just someone who's proficient with a tool.
Yet in the tech industry, this absurdity is normalized.
"Java Expert"
"React Specialist"
"TypeScript Master"
What's the difference? This is literally declaring "I aspire to be an exceptional toolor." Someone shackled to a single instrument. Someone who becomes a blank slate the moment their tool becomes obsolete.
Is that a developer?
I Was a Toolor Too
I'll admit it.
For years, I was a toolor. When I used React, I only thought in React paradigms. When I wrote TypeScript, my cognition was confined to TypeScript's boundaries. When confronting problems, my first instinct wasn't "How do I solve this?" It was "How do I implement this in React?"
The tool was governing my cognitive architecture. And I had the audacity to call it "expertise."
This is self-critique. It stings. But without acknowledgment, transformation is impossible.
The AI Era: Requiem for the Toolor
AI is evolving at an exponential velocity. Every single day, it gets more sophisticated.
And you know what AI excels at?
Tool operation.
React code? GPT generates it in 3 seconds. Spring boilerplate? Copilot auto-completes it. TypeScript type definitions? AI infers them with superior precision.
That "tool proficiency" you've been cultivating for a decade? AI replicates it in seconds. Actually, it already has. Actually, let's be honest — it's already surpassed you.
Exceptional toolors? No longer required.
No matter how elite your toolor status, do you genuinely believe you can outperform AI that's advancing exponentially? Seriously?
Only Real Developers Survive
So what remains?
- The capacity to define problems
- The ability to architect systems
- The judgment to evaluate trade-offs
- The discernment to select tools
- And the vision to translate all of this into business value
AI can't replicate this. Not yet. Not for a while.
Delegate the tools to AI. It's faster. It's more accurate.
Instead, become the one who decides when, why, and how those tools should be deployed. Stand above the tools. Don't be subordinate to instruments — make the instruments subordinate to you.
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