The last generation of coders (and why we're hiring product engineers instead)
The uncomfortable truth that's already happening
By this time next year, writing code will be an optional skill for building software products.
Not in five years
Not “eventually”
Within twelve months (95% certainty)
Within six months (80% certainty)
Not just less important. Actually optional.
If you get pride from writing beautiful, elegant code – from perfect abstractions and the craft itself – I’m genuinely sorry. That skill is about to become as relevant as hand-cranking a car engine. And “about to” means this year.
But if you get pride from solving real problems, shipping products that help users, understanding customer pain so deeply you can’t sleep until it’s fixed – you’re about to enter your golden age.
Developer vs Engineer
Two people. Both technically proficient. Both can write clean code. One critical difference:
Person A gets a ticket: “Add export to CSV functionality”
Reads acceptance criteria
Writes the code
Adds tests
Submits PR
Picks up next ticket
Result: Beautiful, well-architected code.
Person B gets the same ticket.
“Why do users want CSV export?”
“What are they doing with this data?”
Discovers: users export to CSV just to filter in Google Sheets
Realizes: “Our filtering sucks”
Result: Solves the actual problem.
In a world where AI writes both solutions in seconds, only one of these people is valuable.
It’s already happening
I’m not predicting the future. I’m describing today.
Right now, I can describe a feature to Claude or Cursor and get production-ready code. Not boilerplate. Full features with tests, error handling, and edge cases I hadn’t considered.
Six months ago: AI-assisted coding was impressive but limited
Today: Transformative
In six months: Manual coding will feel like using a typewriter
The trajectory is exponential. We’re past the inflection point.
Where pride lives
The best developers – the ones who obsess over clean code and elegant solutions – often struggle most when features get deleted.
You spend three weeks building something beautiful. Refactor it twice. Write comprehensive tests. Then two months later: users don’t care, feature doesn’t work, delete 3,000 lines.
If your pride was in the code: Devastating. Three weeks gone. Beautiful architecture deleted.
If your pride was in learning: Progress! You helped the company learn faster. You discovered what NOT to build. That’s valuable.
Nobody remembers your code
No one has ever remembered a company because their code was clean.
Stripe, Figma, Notion – they didn’t win because of pristine codebases or perfect architecture. They won because they solved real problems better than anyone else.
The code was just a tool. Often, the winners were the ones willing to write “worse” code to ship faster and learn quicker.
Code quality matters – but only insofar as it helps you iterate faster, fix bugs quicker, and ship more confidently. It’s a tool for building better products, not an end in itself.
Two camps
I’m watching people divide into two camps:
Camp 1: “If AI can write code, what’s my value?”
Identity built on being “the person who codes”
Pride from technical prowess
Existential crisis when AI codes too
Camp 2: “Finally, I can build all the things I imagined!”
Saw code as a tool (often a slow, error-prone tool)
Pride from solving problems
Thrilled the tool just got 10x better
We’re hiring for Camp 2.
What we’re looking for
At Neople, we want people obsessed with customers.
People who:
Want to understand why a user sent a confused email at 2 AM
Dig into support tickets to understand frustration, not just close them
Can’t stop thinking about making the product better
People who see a two-minute API timeout and get angry – not because the code offends them, but because making users wait offends them.
People who understand “the code is clean” means “we can ship features faster,” not “I’m a good engineer.”
Your value isn’t: Writing perfectly optimized algorithms
Your value is:
Understanding what problem needs solving
Breaking complex problems into solvable pieces
Judging when a solution is good enough to ship
Knowing when to cut losses and try something different
Connecting user feedback to product decisions
Prioritizing ruthlessly based on impact
These are product skills. Engineering skills in the truest sense. Not coding skills.
The magic wand test
Here’s how you know which camp you’re in:
Tomorrow, we give you a magic wand. You can build any feature instantly, without writing code. It just appears, working perfectly.
What do you do?
“Wait, but how would I spend my time?”
→ You’ll struggle in the next six months. Not years. Months.
“Oh my god, I have so many problems I want to solve!”
→ We’re looking for you. We need you now.
The shift is here
We’re not approaching the end of “software developer” as a career. We’re in it. The transition is happening in real-time.
By mid-2026, most people building products won’t write code. They’ll direct AI agents, just like most product builders today don’t design circuit boards – they buy components and assemble them.
The valuable skill is already knowing what to build, who you’re building for, when something is good enough, and having the courage to delete what isn’t working.
We’re already in a world where code is nearly free. The only thing that matters is building the right thing.
What this means for Neople
At Neople, we’re not just building AI agents – we’re using them to build our product. We’re living in the future we’re creating.
The bottleneck is never the code. It’s always understanding: what users need, what’s working, what to build next.
The engineers who thrive here ask the best questions. They challenge requirements. They push back when something doesn’t make sense. They advocate for users even when it’s inconvenient.
They treat code as a tool, not a craft. They’d rather ship something imperfect today than perfect next month. They measure success in customer impact, not lines of code.
The invitation
If you’re feeling defensive about your code, your craft, the years you spent learning to write beautiful software – I get it. Change is hard.
But if you’re feeling excited – if you’ve always been more interested in the why than the how, more excited about solving customer problems than refactoring code – we should talk.
The future of software engineering isn’t about writing better code. It’s about building better products. And we need people eager to make that shift.
Building the future of software at neople.io. Where code is the tool, not the goal.
 | A guest post by
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