The Death of a Software Craftsman (it happens a lot 'round here)

https://naildrivin5.com/blog/2026/02/23/the-death-of-the-software-craftsman.html

AI Abstinence? All in on Agents? Or resign yourself to becoming a niche craftsperson?

The Death of the Software Craftsman

The Death of the Software Craftsman

Naildrivin' 5 - Website of David Bryant Copeland

@davetron5000 I hate this timeline. I left corporate tech in 2021, and it would have been hard enough to return had not this rug-pull pulled this particular rug. Now I can only code on passion projects or grant-funded work I guess.

I still care about code. Writing code is transformative, and I don't want to lose that. So for me, I guess it's option 3: Embrace Tradition. (But I'm still not calling myself a "craftsman".)

@CoralineAda I have been a depressive haze for the last few months because of this. I'm not sure if writing this post helps, but I think it does. Though still not sure what this means for me personally.

Craft{er,sman,sperson} - I don't love the term, but "maker" doesn't seem right to me, nor does "artisan", but maybe it's just "coder"?

@davetron5000 We could recoup “software architect”?
@CoralineAda true - that is such a dirty word to me, but maybe it could be turned around!
@davetron5000 @CoralineAda I always liked "s/w architect" as something like "the designer of the core structure and abstractions of a s/w project in order to champion the true longterm needs of the users who may not be able to fully articulate those needs", and not its modern meaning of "person who chooses which pub-sub tool to use and which database abstraction to put on top of which RDBMS".
@davetron5000 @CoralineAda The architect is the person who can say no to a shortcut or design decision if it short-changes what the user actually requires. And as such, the project manager <--> architect relationship should be a productive dynamic of tension due to to pulling in almost opposite directions, to ensure that both can play their role correctly... on a good project they complement (and compliment) each other in the interest of the end-user/client