Reimagining the Programming Industry: What Would You Change and Why?

When we talk about the DX (developer experience), post-chatgpt era is going to be quite different.
Previously, better DX means having intuitive API designs, good docs, better support, etc.

But in post-gpt era, good DX probably means you can generate code with minor / no modifications with the help of copilot AI. People will spend less time to check out the docs, examples, but more heavily rely on AI to do the code generation.
So it's critical to make sure the AI tools can pick up how to use your tool, like how the SEO works nowadays.

I think this will push a different angle to think about DX.

The one thing id change is the focus on tech and product being a "gap". This gap is due to the large complexities involved in technical solutions. Most problems don't actually require all these technical solutions and complexities, but that's what engineers are paid for, so that is what they do.

I have no idea how to solve this sort of problem, but it seems like it's everywhere, and just something most people (including me) accept.

Great question! If I had the power to change one aspect of the programming industry, I would focus on dramatically enhancing the transparency and openness of the coding process.

Often, developers are working on similar challenges in isolated silos, leading to duplicated effort and wasted resources. Imagine an industry where collaboration and open-source philosophy are even more at the core of what we do. A world where developers from different organizations, sectors, and even countries collaborate seamlessly to create software solutions.

In this ideal world, code wouldn't just be something we create and protect, it would be a shared resource, a global library of components and solutions that every coder can tap into and contribute to. Allowing developers to learn from the successes and failures of others, drawing inspiration from their approaches, and potentially building on top of their work.

While we've seen a significant movement towards this with platforms like GitHub, I believe we can push it even further. We should strive for an industry that encourages more open-source contributions, offers more extensive and in-depth documentation, and emphasizes sharing and collaboration over competition. This is not just about improving the technical aspects of our work, but also about fostering an inclusive, diverse, and global programming community where knowledge and creativity are shared freely.

I believe this would not only speed up technological progress and innovation but also lead to more robust and high-quality code. And it could create an environment where newcomers can learn faster, and seasoned developers can continue to grow and be challenged. Imagine what we could achieve if the entire global developer community were effectively working together!

Let's start the change by contributing more to open-source, documenting our code well for others, and mentoring the newcomers. Together, we can make this vision a reality.