"The more things change, the more they stay the same" -- Alphonse Karr, 1849

From COBOL to .COM to DevOps to AI, our industry has repeatedly promised a future where developers are no longer needed.
And yet -- developers remain critical.
Each wave didn’t eliminate developers—it forced them to evolve.

As AI accelerates, many developers will face a hard truth: we’ve optimized for syntax instead of solving real problems.
Short-term gains have come at the cost of learning the fundamentals that actually create value.
AI won’t fix this—it will expose it.

Design patterns, system thinking, effective communication, and quality practices didn’t go anywhere.
WHAT we do hasn’t changed nearly as much as HOW we'll do it.

This isn’t a talk about AI tools.
It's about becoming the developer our future needs.

If it appears dark, shine your light.

To move forward, we need to look back.
Confront the risks emerging from:
- Missed outcomes
- AI-generated “slop”
- Cryptic, sprawling systems
- Tests for compliance instead of confidence

You’ll learn how to refocus on what matters:
- Define problems and desired outcomes succinctly
- Clearly Test intent, not implementation
- Design systems with clear responsibilities and boundaries