It’s 2025, and AI is everywhere. It writes code, creates art, diagnoses disease, and even holds conversations. So naturally, people ask me:
“Why are you still doing software development? Don’t you know AI is only going to get better, maybe even replace you?”
The question is fair. But my answer is simple.
I never got into programming because I thought I was the best at it or because there were no tools or systems that could do it better or faster. I got into it because I love understanding how things work, solving problems, and building solutions from the ground up. That mindset doesn't disappear just because AI is here now and is only going to get better.
In fact, I think continuing to learn and build even when AI seems capable of doing it for us, is more important than ever.
I Don't Believe in Outsourcing Understanding
What worries me isn’t that AI can write code better than I can.
What worries me is the idea that society might grow comfortable with not knowing, that we’ll let machines “know for us,” while we become passive consumers of their decisions.
That’s dangerous.
Understanding how technology works how it’s built, where its limits are, how it makes decisions gives us power, agency, and accountability. When we give up that understanding, we risk becoming disconnected from the tools that shape our world.
We Don't Control AI’s Moral Compass
Another reason I keep coding even as AI improves is because AI doesn’t have a moral compass. At least, not one we fully own or control.
AI reflects the data it's trained on and the people who train it. And while it can optimize, automate, and even create, it doesn’t understand the consequences of its actions the way we do. If we step away from the keyboard and leave too much to automation, we risk outsourcing responsibility along with knowledge.
Who’s accountable when an AI makes a biased decision? Who’s at fault when code breaks in a life-critical system?
That’s not a question for the AI. It’s a question for the humans who built, deployed, and relied on it.
I Build Because I Care
I’m still a software developer not because I want to “beat” AI, but because I care about how things are built.
I want to keep learning, exploring, and contributing to a tech-driven world from the inside, not just watching it evolve from the sidelines.
Programming is more than just typing code. It’s about solving problems, understanding systems, and staying connected to the world we’re helping shape.
And in the age of AI, that matters more than ever.
Final Thoughts
Will AI replace some coding tasks? Yes. Will it change the way developers work? Absolutely. But the solution isn't to stop learning it's to keep learning.
Because understanding matters.
Because creativity matters.
Because responsibility matters.
And those aren’t things I’m ready to give up to a machine.