I can’t believe how insanely easy it is to build software today.

I just spent the morning “writing code” without actually writing any code. Almost everything was copy and pasted from ChatGPT, stitched together, and tweaked.

Only when absolutely necessary do I browse official documentation. Normally a bot gives me the exact code I’m looking for.

There used to be technical tasks so far out of my comfort zone that I never considered attempting them.

Now they’re within easy reach.

For example, today I set up authentication between my webapp and YouTube, so I can call APIs on a user’s behalf. With technical lingo like OAuth, scopes, and tokens, it sounds complicated. But AI made it so unbelievably easy that I was giggling like a little girl.

Good news for companies, perhaps like the one that employs you.

They can:

  • Move 10x faster
  • Release 10x more features
  • Hire 10x less engineers

The last point is why some developers are so concerned about recent advances. For anyone that sees the opportunity though, there’s never been a better time to be a software developer.

The future I’m focussing on is combining existing skills, knowledge, and experience with the power of AI to build software that solves real human problems.

Any adult who has spent time in the real world experiences the kind of annoying problems that software can solve. When you start noticing them, you end up with a list of software ideas so long that the challenge is picking your favourite.

Today I’m building webapp #3.

I’m still in the early stages of this journey and haven’t yet built a software product that earns consistent revenue. I’m not ashamed of that.

But the opportunity is there for anyone willing to reach into the unknown—to discover how to build a life and earn income on their own terms.

  • Making decisions based on your values, not to please bosses.
  • Creating things online to which you’re proud to put your name.
  • Challenging yourself to learn skills not available in a job.

These ideas would seem impossible to previous generations, but now they’re available to anyone willing to put in the work.

Today’s technology allows almost anyone to build software. Using the internet, they can distribute that software in a way that’s valuable to others, then reap the rewards.

Next week I’ll share the outcome of my latest project—the good and the bad.

Keep on building,

Tom Gregory