"Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

Senko Rašić's essay answers a common line about AI and programming, that coding is easy and deciding what to build is the hard part. In "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers (August 8, 2026), he argues that implementation is a craft requiring skill, patience and experience, and that understanding users and stakeholders is also critical. His conclusion is that developers should aim for both, and not outsource their understanding and judgment to AI.

His advice differs by experience. Senior developers should look beyond deepening expertise to user experience, customer interviews and business strategy. Juniors should deepen their knowledge of how software works, such as pointers, recursion, network protocols and algorithms. He argues these skills help developers adapt as tools and responsibilities change. The essay is a professional stance on that transition, not a measurement of AI's effect on productivity or jobs.