I think about the future of software a lot.

We’re living through something genuinely new, and I can’t help but wonder where it’s all going.

Here’s where I’ve landed.

Not Everyone Will Build

We’re entering an era where everyone can build. But “can” and “will” are very different things.

There will always be people who don’t want to build. Not because they “can’t”, but because they just aren’t interested.

The same way everyone could technically learn to cook elaborate meals, but plenty of people are perfectly happy ordering takeout.

There will always be people who want to build, but won’t want to build “that.” Maybe they have the skills and the time, but the specific thing that needs building just doesn’t excite them.

And there will always be people who are too busy. Life is demanding. Not everyone has the bandwidth to sit down and vibe code their way to a solution, even if the tools make it possible.

Personal Builders

So what happens to all those people who can’t, won’t, or don’t have time to build for themselves?

I think we’re going to see a new role emerge: the personal builder.

Maybe this is someone you hire to deeply understand your wants and needs, and then custom create a personalized piece of software for you.

I think this role will show up inside companies too, especially on the customer support side.

Imagine having a dedicated rep assigned to a few hundred customers, with intimate knowledge of each person’s personalized setup, able to support them in ways that generic support never could.

The primary skill for this role won’t be coding. AI will handle most of that. The primary skill will be being good with people. Understanding what someone actually needs, even when they can’t articulate it themselves. Translating human problems into software solutions.

The Line Will Blur

I think the line between vibe coders and traditional developers will blur. A lot.

Maybe we’ll reach a point far in the future where only the most elite devs have the knowledge to code something entirely from scratch. But far more people will understand systems thinking. They’ll understand the frameworks that go into building, even if they’re not writing every line themselves.

Or maybe things will progress so quickly that even that kind of thinking won’t be necessary.

Honestly, who knows.

I also think we might see a horseshoe effect.

Once AI is capable of entirely one-shotting something based off of an idea, some developers who previously embraced AI will horseshoe around to rejecting AI and insisting on coding completely manually. Digital luddites, in a sense.

I think there will absolutely be a market for handcrafted software, the same way there’s a market for handmade furniture or artisanal goods. Some people might pay a premium for “human-coded” software.

The Era of Personalized Software

I think we also might be witnessing the death of one-size-fits-all tools.

Here’s what I imagine this looking like: the main app a company releases will exist as a framework. But everyone who uses it will have their own personalized version. You’ll either hire someone to build it for you (a personal builder), or the company will build it for you as part of their core offering.

We’re already seeing early versions of this with whitelabeling. Think about HighLevel (GHL) and how agencies build entirely custom CRMs on top of it. Or gym apps that all run on the same backend but look completely different for each gym. Or restaurant ordering systems that share the same bones but feel totally unique to each business.

Vibe coding accelerates this trend and fundamentally changes it. Whitelabeling becomes much, much more prominent. But it also becomes more granular. Not just “your brand on our software,” but “your exact needs, built specifically for you.”

This also gets into the existence of the App Store, or really, the multiplication of the App Store. I think there’s a chance that App Stores as a concept become widespread apps themselves. Maybe 20 or 30 versions of each app are released as “bases” that can then be customized further? Maybe each company has their own App Store, and the concept of the App Store becomes more social?

Ideas Are Still Human

I don’t know if we’ll ever reach AGI. I obviously don’t have any insider knowledge on that.

But for now, we’re heading for a world in which humans are the idea makers and AI are the builders.

I still don’t use any AI-generated ideas. It’s honestly still not good at coming up with them. I use AI for brainstorming and collecting my thoughts, but never straight for ideas. Because it’ll give everyone the same ones. Nothing is unique.

And honestly that might change someday. But for now, good ideas are uniquely human. And I think there’s something valuable in that.

Excitement and Unease

I’m overwhelmingly excited about this future. The idea that anyone can build, that software can be personalized to exactly what you need, that new roles and opportunities will emerge, is so incredibly exciting.

But yeah, I am a little scared too.

I want a future in which people thrive. Not a future in which people don’t. And I do think we can make that future a reality! But I also think it’ll take a lot of work.

I don’t have all the answers on what that work looks like. But I hope we can join together to figure it out. We are all building the future right now, and I want to make sure it’s a good one!