Essay: the technical moat is drying up — what software engineers should do now
dotey · x · 2026-11-13
dotey translates Scott Boleinger's essay on how software engineers should adapt as AI erodes pure technical skills.
- Deep technical knowledge shrinks in value with every model release; the author feels increasingly like a product manager managing AI, and prompt-style user stories now outperform rigorous technical specs
- He admits the loss: the joy of grinding on SaaS apps is gone when building enterprise software is now easier than making a website five years ago
- Citing David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity: innovation is unbounded—computers killed old jobs but created far more; AI demands a new mindset
- 'Thinking big' now means national, global, even cosmic scale: what could you do with a 100- or 1000-engineer team? That productivity is now nearly free
- Engineers must broaden beyond technology
A reflective first-person take on AI's impact on the engineering career.
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