I’ve always had a pretty clear understanding of how a software application has to look, feel and come across to its users. To me, new software, or even a new operating system, has always been something to explore and understand. Ever since I got my first computer, I spent hours just trying to understand how an application works. Be it Microsoft Word with its paperclip helper buddy or Macromedia Flash with its tooling for animation and vector graphics, it all felt like a new world to explore. This trip naturally led me onto the path of a programmer, software developer and user experience guy in my professional life.
Digging in deep
A software developer’s job was to read documentation, learn about the building blocks of software and build an application that people enjoy using. A tool that puts as little friction as possible between the user and their goal. For a developer, this always meant digging deep into the possibilities of the system and figuring out ingenious ways to make it happen as efficiently as possible.
Digging in deep always meant countless hours of learning, understanding and experimenting with code. Becoming proficient. Countless hours of bugfixing and rebuilding. All this going deep into code meant that I often got so caught up in the details of how stuff actually works that I sometimes forgot the main goal: I need to use my expertise to build the best possible user experience for my users. While we have great UX experts, the final touch of how software actually turns out relies on the person actually building it, the developer.
Developer with a capital D
Now, with the emergence of AI, this has all changed. I feel like I’m now actually a software developer and less of a programmer, and I love it. I feel like I’ve been preparing for this moment my whole life. Understanding what makes software good and what makes it lousy. Understanding how to build software at a deep code level, but also how to use and design it.
Now I can actually be a Developer with a capital D. I’m now the guy who lets AI do the research and programming, while I act as the human who knows how users will want to use it. I can prototype and decide on the usage details. I can be the person with the vision and actually build the best possible software product, for myself first, without getting caught up in my own darlings and the nitty-gritty details. I can do the work that matters: build the best possible, easily usable application that serves the goal of its users.
That’s why I think this is the best time in history for software development, and for quality software products.
