# The Age of the Generalist



AI this, AI that. Like many of you, I'm constantly switching between _"Wow, you can do that with AI?"_ and _"Ugh, not AI again."_

But here we are. AI is changing how we work and how we live.
I’m a millennial. The last major disruption technology brought to my life was social media (and then the iPhone).

Now there is a new wave coming. It will slowly change everything.

And yes, it is AI.

How does AI change the work of software developers?

Short answer: we will all become more like generalists.

This shift is already happening. Most teams no longer separate frontend and backend. They hire full-stack developers. This helps teams move faster. Traditional separation creates communication overhead and slows execution.

So we are already becoming generalists.

If you join a startup as a dev, you will not find neat job titles. There is no budget for that. You wear whatever hat the day requires.

Now add AI to the mix.

Tasks that took hours , writing code, setting up tooling , can now be done in minutes. You can delegate to AI, generate boilerplate, spin up components, scaffold tests. You can work in parallel. You will probably spend more time reading code than writing it.

But AI has no understanding of architecture. It does not know what good design looks like. It cannot distinguish between cohesion and coupling. It does not know when to break something into modules or when to leave it flat. It has no initiative. It only works when a human prompts it.

That is why **high agency** is more important than ever.

AI does not replace builders. It replaces waiters.
If you wait to be told what to do, you will fall behind.
If you take action, ask questions, and push things forward, you will stay ahead.

High agency means seeing a mess and deciding what to clean up. It means figuring out what matters without someone else making the roadmap.
AI can give you answers, but it will never tell you what is worth building.

So what should developers focus on?

Become a generalist with high agency.

Think of Leonardo da Vinci. He painted _The Last Supper_ and _Mona Lisa_. He dissected human bodies and sketched the nervous system. He designed flying machines. He wrote about optics, engineering, and warfare.
He did not pick a lane. He learned widely and built from what he learned.

That mindset , curious, self-directed, and hands-on , is what will matter most in the age of AI.

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