Boris Cherny — the creator of Claude Code at Anthropic — shared an idea that stuck with me all day: in the AI era, we've stopped being "the person who writes code" and started moving between 5 developer archetypes.
They're not job titles or seniority levels. They're ways of working — and most of us move through all of them depending on where a project is.
Here's the breakdown, plus why I think it's one of the most useful lenses I've found for reading my own work. 👇
The 5 archetypes
🧪 1. Prototyper — the spark
The zero-to-one person. Fires off ideas and experiments, most of which never ship — and that's the point. Their job isn't to be right; it's to find out fast whether something is worth building at all. They don't fall in love with the code, they fall in love with learning.
"It doesn't work yet, but look at what's coming."
🏗️ 2. Builder — makes it real
Takes that duct-tape prototype and turns it into an actual product: real features, real infrastructure, something that holds up when real users show up. From "cool demo" to "this survives production."
"Give me the chaos and I'll hand you something that works."
🧹 3. Sweeper — the one who subtracts
Simplifies the code and the system. Deletes what's unnecessary, cleans up the UI, kills bugs, pays down technical debt. Their superpower is removing, not adding — the quiet work that keeps everything else from collapsing.
"Less code, less debt, more speed."
📈 4. Grower — pushes toward product-market fit
Takes a built product and iterates it, again and again, toward the thing people actually want. Lives on metrics, feedback and experiments.
"It works. Now let's make them actually want it."
🛠️ 5. Maintainer — the silent hero
Owns the mature system. Keeps it secure, reliable and fast while it scales. The person who prevents the fires you never hear about.
"If you didn't notice it went down, that was me."
The detail almost nobody sees
Here's what I loved most: these aren't your job title.
On the Claude Code team, everyone shares the same title. A designer can be a Prototyper. A PM can be a Maintainer. It's how you work, not what your contract says.
And each stage of a product asks for a different mix:
- Pre-PMF: Prototyper + Builder + Sweeper
- Growth: Builder + Sweeper + Grower
- Maturity: Sweeper + Grower + Maintainer
The AI doesn't erase these roles — it makes them sharper. When an agent can knock out the mechanical parts, what's left is the judgment call about which mode the moment needs.
So… which one are you?
The honest answer for most of us is: it changes. You shift archetype depending on the project, the week, sometimes the hour. I'm a Builder at heart, but lately I've been living in Sweeper mode. 😅
Which of the 5 do you feel most like in your day-to-day? I'd genuinely love to read it in the comments. 👇
Inspired by an idea from Boris Cherny, creator of Claude Code.
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