Developing Software in the Age of AI — A Personal Take After 25 Years of Coding
I’ve been a developer for about 25 years now, and sometimes I still can’t believe how far things have come. I remember sitting with massive programming books, treating them like precious treasure because they held answers I couldn’t get anywhere else. Learning a new language or framework meant weeks of effort — reading, building tiny projects, breaking things, and hoping the forum reply you needed eventually arrived.
Today? I can ask AI to scaffold a backend, generate a React component, explain a piece of legacy code, or translate Python into Go. It’s wild. The whole landscape has shifted — not just slowly over time, but dramatically.
So what is it actually like to develop software now, in this AI-powered era? And should developers be worried?
AI Has Changed How We Work
For me, AI hasn’t made coding less interesting — it’s made it faster, more accessible, and in many ways more fun.
Here’s what has changed in my day-to-day:
- I spend less time Googling or digging through Stack Overflow
- I can try a new language or pattern without fear of being “too slow”
- Boilerplate code takes minutes to generate, not hours
- Bugs surface earlier because AI spots issues before I run the code
The biggest shift is confidence. I try more ideas now because the cost of trying is low.
If I want to experiment with a new architecture, I can ask AI to draft the skeleton and then spend my own time shaping it properly. It feels like pair programming with someone who knows every tool and library in the world.
But Let’s Not Pretend It’s All Perfect
AI can also make a mess of things if you let it run unchecked.
I’ve seen AI over-engineer a simple task, adding layers of abstraction, classes, and interfaces that nobody asked for. It doesn’t always understand the context of a legacy system or the unwritten rules of a particular team.
If I hand over full control, the result often:
- Looks generic
- Ignores business constraints
- Doesn’t match the existing style
- Is harder to maintain long-term
That’s where humans still matter. AI is brilliant at expanding ideas, but I’m still the one who has to choose which ideas are worth expanding.
Especially when building large distributed systems with dozens of microservices and legacy code — AI can help, but it cannot direct the architecture. That responsibility still sits with real people.
Will AI Replace Developers?
This is the question that pops up in almost every conversation.
My honest view:
AI won’t replace all developers — but developers who use AI will replace those who don’t.
The definition of “being a developer” is already changing.
Years ago, our main value was that we could write code.
Now, our value sits more in:
- Understanding the business problem
- Designing the right architecture
- Deciding what is worth building
- Guiding AI to accelerate delivery
Typing is no longer the hard part.
Thinking is.
The Way Teams Build Software Is Changing Too
It’s not only solo developers who are affected — AI is reshaping how teams work.
I’m already seeing:
- Pull requests automatically reviewed for style and bugs
- CI/CD pipelines set up in minutes
- Repos full of clear English commentary and intent, because AI needs context
- Developers spending more time on performance, architecture, and business logic, and less time stitching together forms and controllers
Team culture shifts as well. Success becomes less about output volume and more about making good decisions and maintaining momentum.
AI boosts productivity, but it also forces clarity. If you can’t describe what needs to be built, you won’t get good results.
Has AI Made Me a Better Developer?
This is where my answer surprises some people.
I don’t think AI has made me a better programmer.
It’s made me a faster and more confident one.
AI helps me:
- Find bugs before they cost me a night of sleep
- Learn unfamiliar libraries without hunting for tutorials
- Try bigger, bolder ideas
- Spend more energy where it counts — on design, creativity, and system understanding
The real improvement comes from learning why the AI changed something — not blindly accepting it.
AI Should Be a Partner, Not a Crutch
I don’t rely on AI to build my entire platform for me.
I rely on it to help me build better software, faster.
The best mindset I’ve found is this:
Let AI take away the boring stuff — and use the saved time to think, design, and innovate.
Developers who embrace AI will get more done in less time.
Businesses that embrace AI will deliver features quicker, with fewer blockers.
It’s a strategic advantage — not a threat.
Where We’re Heading
Being a developer today is no longer just about typing code.
We’re becoming:
- Designers of systems
- Translators of business needs
- Curators of what AI generates
- The people who decide what should actually be built
AI accelerates, but we still steer.
And that’s why I’m excited. Because in the end, the hardest part of software has never been writing code.
It’s knowing what’s worth building in the first place.
Emiliano Roberti
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