Advice for devs in the pre-AGI era

the developer world is changing faster than most want to admit. and if you’re not paying attention, you’ll get left behind.

let’s be honest, no one cares that you're a dev anymore. not on its own. being a developer isn’t rare. it isn’t impressive. what matters now is what you do with it.

the game changed. have you?

this is the best time in history to be a developer. you’ve got unlimited tools. open apis. infinite compute. knowledge on tap. and the most powerful assistants ever created sitting one tab away.

you don’t need permission. you need proof of work.
you don’t need degrees. you need output.
you don’t need to wait. you need to ship.

ai is not a tool. it’s the foundation.

ai isn’t a sidekick. it’s not a bonus. it’s the new baseline.
one person with ai now does what six used to.
the better the prompts, the bigger the team they replace.

companies like duolingo and shopify know this, they’ve already laid off and shifted to an “ai-first” mindset. why hire ten when one dev who knows how to prompt, plug, and deploy can outperform the old team?
this isn’t a one-off, it’s the beginning. more companies will follow. ai-native teams will become the norm. and if you're not adapting, you're becoming obsolete.

this is the new reality:

you don’t compete with devs. you compete with devs + ai.

iteration > experience

forget “years of experience.”
that era is over.

today it’s about iterations per week.
tight loops. build → ship → feedback → repeat.

you’re not rewarded for what you’ve done, you’re rewarded for what you can do now, fast, and in public.

tools > theory

two people are building a youtube clone.
one knows mux exists. the other writes a video encoder from scratch.

guess who finishes first. guess who gets hired.
the person who connects tools wins. full stop.
spend time learning what tools exists. see show hn.

what you should actually focus on

• learn to use chatgpt, claude, etc.

• build projects using ai apis

• share your builds online, build in public

• master ai-powered content + code creation

• network with builders on twitter, farcaster, discord

• ship every week. don’t wait for perfect.

• build a personal brand. show your face. show your work.

• contribute to open source. join a dao.

if you don’t have a personal site, github, or some proof you exist, you’re already behind.

you are now a startup

you + ai = startup.
period.

• chatbot saas? two days.

• landing page? one hour.

• course platform? one weekend.

• micro saas? prompt + plug.

speed is the new flex.
knowledge is commoditized.
execution is king.

english is the new programming language.
the dev who can communicate, design, build, and ship, wins. the career ladder is dead.
even more if they can do it with ai.

learn to detach

learn about space. about philosophy. detach from the noise. you’ll see the system for what it is, and that nothing matters. and that’s the most freeing realization you’ll ever have.

because when you accept that, you can build fearlessly. you can learn faster. you stop caring about approval and focus on improvement.

final warning

ai tools let you skip steps. that means no excuses.
become agile. become resourceful. become a generalist.
build fast. learn in public. ride the wave or get swept under it.

the future belongs to the ones who move fast, think clearly, and ship consistently.

and if your job isn’t touched by ai yet, wait until your customers get laid off and stop spending. you’re not safe, you’re just next.

no more waiting. no more talking.

• Alexandr Wang - In 2015, researchers thought it would take 30–50 years to beat the best coders. It happened in less than 10.

• Gemini 2.5 Pro just completed Pokémon Blue!

• Zuckerberg says in 12-18 months, AIs will take over at writing most of the code for further AI progress.

• In just one year, the smartest AI went from 96 IQ to 136 IQ.

• Eric Schmidt says "the computers are now self-improving, they're learning how to plan" - and soon they won't have to listen to us anymore. Within 6 years, minds smarter than the sum of humans - scaled, recursive, free. "People do not understand what's happening."

• Demis Hassabis on what keeps him up at night: "AGI is coming… and I'm not sure society's ready."

https://aicountdown.com/

act now.