The future of development: Are our jobs getting harder or easier? by Holly Cummins

Programming jobs are becoming more complex with increasing responsibilities (DevOps, DevSecOps, FinOps, security, observability)

Higher-level abstractions and frameworks generally improve productivity and reduce cognitive load, despite criticism from “gatekeepers”

AI coding assistants show promise but have limitations:

• Can be wrong 70% of the time
• Better for junior developers than seniors
• More useful for assistance than full code generation
• Should eliminate boilerplate rather than generate it

Performance tradeoffs between high and low-level languages aren’t always what they seem:

• Java can sometimes outperform C
• JIT optimization makes “normal” code fast
• Garbage collection typically improves developer productivity

Software development careers remain sustainable:

• Demand for software continues growing
• Job requirements evolve but don’t disappear
• Focus shifting from writing to reading/maintaining code
• Need for human judgment and understanding remains critical

Best practices for modern development:

• Focus on readability over clever code
• Let platforms handle infrastructure concerns (“shift down”)
• Choose tools that improve productivity and happiness
• Maintain understanding of lower-level concepts when needed
• Embrace appropriate abstractions without dogma

Code quality and maintainability should be prioritized over raw productivity metrics

Cloud operations and cost management becoming crucial skills for developers

Framework and tool selection should focus on actual value delivered rather than ideological purity

Success metrics should focus on outcomes (productivity, happiness) rather than technical implementation details