Happy New Year - Developers Are Still Here

Happy New Year It’s 2026, and yes developers are still here.

Despite the yearly “AI will replace us”, “low-code will end programming”, or “this framework changes everything” headlines, we’re still shipping code, fixing bugs, and quietly keeping systems alive while the world refreshes dashboards.

2025 Was… A Lot

I overworked in 2025.
Not in a glamorous “hustle culture” way just the slow, creeping kind where work bleeds into nights, weekends, and headspace.

Working as a full-stack developer with mostly non-technical people for the past two years taught me a lot:

• How to translate ideas into reality
• How to explain tradeoffs without sounding defensive
• How often “it should be simple” means “I don’t see the complexity yet”

And also:

• How easy it is to burn out when delivery is constant and recovery is optional

New Skills, Same Desk

I picked up a few new skills last year. Nothing flashy, but useful:

• Better system thinking
• Clearer communication with non-tech stakeholders
• More patience than I thought I had
• A sharper sense of when something is actually done

My setup, though?
Mostly the same.

Same editor.
Same terminal.
Same stack.

No dramatic battlestation upgrade. Turns out tools matter less once you know them well, familiarity beats novelty most days.

Talking vs Delivering

One thing that keeps repeating itself in companies:

The people who talk the most about ideas often get rewarded for the ideas.
The people who deliver those ideas don’t always get the same recognition.

This isn’t just a developer problem, it’s a human one, but developers feel it deeply because delivery is our default mode. We show up with working code, not slides.

Over time, that imbalance wears people down.

What People Actually Want

Developers, and honestly, people in general, don’t want miracles.

We want:

• Justice: credit aligned with contribution
• Work-life balance: not as a perk, but as a baseline
• Trust: the ability to work without micromanagement

Give people clarity, autonomy, and respect, and most will deliver far more than any status meeting ever could.

Still Here

So yes. it’s 2026. Still building. Still fixing. Still learning. Still tired, but still curious.

This year, I’m aiming for:

• Less noise
• Better boundaries
• More intentional work

Happy New Year.