Why writing software felt like a chore
Writing software used to feel like a chore because of how cognitively complex the task was. We had to Google bugs, read docs, debug and fetch more coffee, memorise the commands of a dozen tools and fetch more coffee. Feedback cycles were long, even with the introduction of DevOps and platform engineering. As a result of this friction, people avoided side projects.
Oh, and let’s not forget being scared to ask a question on StackOverflow out of fear of being downvoted.
So what changed now and why is writing code fun again?
Enter LLMs and agentic coding tools
Large Language Models (LLMs) and agentic coding tools like Claude, Opencode, or your flavour of choice, took away the cognitive complexity of orchestrating the many tools we rely on and, most importantly, writing the mundane boilerplate code we loathe. We have now essentially entered what people across the web are calling the age of disposable software. Now people who didn’t even code can create working personal software. We might be at the cusp of a revolution.
Code may become so cheap that the only barrier may be good ideas and our ability to specify them well. If feedback loops are faster, does the fear of spec-driven development feeling like waterfall all over again really matter? There’s nothing preventing you from specifying the software incrementally, as is encouraged by Agile and is how I’d personally recommend building. Our ability to incorporate feedback is slow and is the reason upfront specification may be a bad idea. Imagine if AI takes your upfront spec and in one shot produces something, but it’s extremely buggy because you weren’t so sure yet—and you never are until you see things interacting together. So I don’t think spec-driven development will repeat waterfall as some fear.
These tools may truly democratise software engineering, leveling the playing field for all devs across the spectrum. However, I often say that senior expert generalists will be the ones winning in this space.
Summary
So in my opinion, the reason most people avoided taking on side projects was due to the arduous cognitive process involved in executing the steps to create that piece of software. Today’s agentic tools have removed the barrier and lowered the cognitive demand involved in getting ideas from paper to launch. The only limit may truly be your ideas. Coding now feels so fun, but the cost of agentic coding tools is a barrier for many people—though it might get cheaper.