AI is making building software cheap and accessible. This is unlocking massive productivity for everyone, but it also commoditizing software engineering. We are at the end of the software gold rush, and software engineering is going from elite to skilled trade.
AI fixes the supply side of software engineering. Software Engineers are currently a luxury. Only well-funded businesses can afford them, and most others end up using generic “off the shelf” SaaS tools. These tools are often rigid, clunky, expensive and don’t always fit your workflow.
AI is fundamentally changing that. It’s making software accessible to everyone.
While there are some recent incidents on AI-driven layoffs, I don’t buy the mass unemployment narrative. In fact, with AI, there will be tons of people who can either build their own software or help others build it.
However, these will not be “premium” jobs. They will be like accountants, electricians, plumbers, etc.
Software engineers have had an incredible 30-year run of amazing pay and perks. This tech gold rush is over, and software engineering is transitioning from a luxury priesthood to a blue-collar trade.
We’re about to see a massive explosion of “invisible” software—tools built for one person, one business, and one specific problem. The era of being forced into a SaaS monoculture is over.
When the cost of code is $1$, being a 10x engineer is a superpower. When AI drives the cost of code to $0$, 10x is just another way of writing zero