We are living through the greatest inflation of software in history. 📈
With AI tools in 2026, a junior developer can generate more production-ready code in an afternoon than a senior engineer used to write in a month.
Scaffolds. APIs. Dashboards. Microservices. Tests. Docs.
All in minutes.
We’ve lowered the barrier to creation to nearly zero.
But we have not lowered the cost of maintenance.
And that’s the crisis nobody wants to talk about.
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💸 Code Is Not an Asset. It’s a Liability.
For years, I measured my productivity by green squares on GitHub.
More commits = more value.
More features = more impact.
More lines = more progress.
I was wrong.
Every line of code you write is a long-term commitment. It must be:
- 🧪 Tested
- 🐞 Debugged
- 🔐 Secured
- 🔄 Updated when dependencies break
- 📖 Read and understood by someone else
- 🧠 Re-understood by you six months later
Code doesn’t just sit there quietly. It demands attention.
And in the age of AI-assisted development, we are producing code faster than we can responsibly own it.
🏚️ The Hoarder Mindset
One weekend, I looked at my codebase and had an uncomfortable realization.
It looked exactly like my “Read Later” list.
A graveyard of good intentions.
- Features built “just in case”
- Abstractions that were “future-proof”
- Utility functions used once
- Micro-optimizations for traffic that never came
- Configuration options no one toggled
It was digital hoarding.
And like physical hoarding, it creates:
- Mental clutter 🧠
- Decision fatigue 😵
- Fear of touching anything 🧨
- Slower onboarding for new engineers 🐢
AI made it easier to accumulate code.
But it didn’t make it easier to live with it.
🧑🔧 Welcome to the Era of the Code Janitor
The best developers I know right now are not the ones generating the most output.
They are the ones walking into a project and calmly saying:
“We can delete this module.”
“We don’t need this dependency.”
“This abstraction isn’t earning its keep.”
“We can solve this without code.”
They aren’t Architects.
They are Janitors.
And I mean that with the highest respect.
Because cleaning a system is harder than building one.
✂️ The Art of Subtraction
Last weekend, I did something radical.
I didn’t add a single feature.
I deleted.
- ❌ Removed a feature used by 2% of users that caused 50% of support tickets
- ❌ Ripped out a heavy state management library and replaced it with standard React hooks
- ❌ Hard-coded configuration that I had made “dynamic” for a future that never arrived
- ❌ Collapsed three layers of abstraction into one clear function
The results?
- 📦 Smaller bundle size
- ⚡ Faster builds
- 🧩 Clearer mental model
- 😌 Less cognitive load
- 🚀 Easier onboarding
Nothing felt more productive.
🤖 AI Changed the Game
Tools like Claude Sonnet 4.6, GitHub Copilot, and Cursor can now:
- Generate full components
- Scaffold entire backends
- Write migrations
- Draft test suites
- Refactor across files
The bottleneck is no longer typing speed.
It’s judgment.
AI will happily generate 3,000 lines of “good enough” code.
It will not:
- Ask whether the feature is necessary
- Challenge the complexity of your architecture
- Feel the weight of future maintenance
That responsibility is still yours.
🧠 Senior Engineers in 2026 Do One Thing Exceptionally Well
They reduce complexity.
They understand that:
- The cleanest code is code that doesn’t exist.
- The fastest function is the one you don’t call.
- The most secure service is the one you never deployed.
They optimize for:
- Fewer moving parts
- Fewer dependencies
- Fewer edge cases
- Fewer abstractions
They treat complexity like debt.
Because it is.
🪨 Building Mountains vs Carving Sculptures
In the old world, engineering felt like stacking bricks.
Add features. Add services. Add infrastructure.
In 2026, that approach collapses under its own weight.
AI can build mountains instantly.
Your value now lies in carving sculptures.
Removing what doesn’t belong.
Shaping what remains.
Creating clarity through subtraction.
Michelangelo once said he sculpted by removing everything that wasn’t the statue.
That’s software engineering now.
📉 The Hidden Cost of “Good Enough”
Here’s the trap:
AI-generated code is often good enough.
It works.
It compiles.
It passes tests.
But multiply that by:
- 50 features
- 10 engineers
- 18 months
And suddenly you have:
- Inconsistent patterns
- Slightly different abstractions solving the same problem
- Duplicate utilities
- Near-identical services
The system doesn’t break dramatically.
It degrades silently.
That’s more dangerous.
🧾 The Most Satisfying Commit Message
We celebrate:
✨ Feat: Add new dashboard
🚀 Feature: Implement X
🔥 Launch: Microservice Y
But the most satisfying commit message I’ve written this year was:
♻️ Refactor: Deleted 2,000 lines
Nothing shipped.
Nothing flashy happened.
But everything became easier.
🏁 What to Do This Week
Here’s a challenge:
- Open your last 5 pull requests.
- Ask: Did I add complexity or remove it?
- Look for:
- Dead code
- Rarely used flags
- Libraries solving trivial problems
- “Future-proof” abstractions
Then delete something.
Even 100 lines.
Feel the difference.
🧘 The New Definition of Productivity
In 2026:
- Output is infinite.
- Code generation is cheap.
- Boilerplate is trivial.
Clarity is scarce.
The most valuable engineers are not the fastest builders.
They are the most disciplined editors.
Stop asking:
“What can I add?”
Start asking:
“What can I remove?”
Because in a world where AI can write infinite code…
The most valuable skill isn’t writing it.
It’s deleting it. 🧹✨
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