Programmers Aren't Ending. We Got Promoted.

I don't write code anymore. AI does. The heavy lifting is gone from our shoulders. But it doesn't mean programmers are finished. No. Definitely not. It means we got promoted.

Programming Is Why I Build

I graduated in Computer Engineering, and programming has always been a passion for me. It lets me spot real problems and build something that solves them. That's the whole point of it.

In 25+ years of entrepreneurship, I never gave up programming to become a pure businessman. I built several companies and tons of products, and I stayed at the center of every one of them. I stepped away from programming for only 1-2 years in that whole stretch. Those were the years I was never happy or satisfied.

So when I say the work has changed, I'm not saying it as someone who lost interest in code.

The Promotion Is Real

Each of us is now a team lead. We manage tens, hundreds, maybe thousands of AI agents, working 24/7 and writing amazing code. The job moved from typing the code to directing the people (well, the agents) who produce it.

That's a bigger seat, not a smaller one. You decide what gets built, what's good enough, and what gets thrown away. The problem-spotting part of programming, the part that always mattered most to me, is still fully ours.

Declining the Promotion Won't Work

Some programmers will say no. They'll want to keep writing every line by hand, the way they always have.

In my opinion, they won't survive. The software world is changing too fast to wait out. A programmer who refuses to lead agents will be competing against programmers who lead hundreds of them, and that's not a fair fight.

We have to adapt to this change and step into the team lead role. It's not optional.

I Didn't See It Coming This Fast

About 4-5 years ago I tried OpenAI's API for the first time. I asked it to write one simple Go function. It worked, and I was amazed.

I still didn't expect AI agents to take the entire software development workload off our shoulders this quickly. I figured it would take much longer. It didn't.

Shift Your Vision

Last week I wrote that I can't see why leading couldn't be automated too. I still think that. Team lead is the seat for now, not forever. The next shift will come, probably faster than this one did.

That's why taking the promotion matters. The programmers who learn to lead agents today are the ones who will be ready for whatever comes after. And each step keeps us closer to the one part AI hasn't taken: deciding which real problems are worth solving. The code was never the point. Solving real problems was.

It's time to shift our vision. Feel the power of what we can do in a very short period of time. Then move forward.