{"id":"23-your-role","number":23,"slug":"the-engineer-you-become","title":"The engineer you become","short":"The engineer you become","module":"The engineer you become","summary":"Kent Beck says 90% of his skills went to zero and 10% went up a thousandfold. Which 10%? Vision, judgment, design, domain knowledge, and real understanding. Here's how to keep learning when agents write the code, pay down cognitive debt, and build the skills that compound.","voice":"Eric","scenes":[{"template":"title","chapter":"Intro","narration":"If agents write most of the code, what's left for you? More than you might think. But it's a different mix of skills than the one that got most of us here.","params":{"kicker":"Lesson 23","module":"Module 6 · The engineer you become","title":"The engineer *you become*","subtitle":"Which skills lose value, which compound, and how to keep learning.","bubble":"You lead. 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Ninety percent of my skills just went to zero dollars, and ten percent of my skills just went up a thousand times. 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Losing value: syntax and API details, memorizing commands, typing speed, and, as Boris Cherny says, very strong opinions about code style and frameworks. Gaining value: having a vision and setting milestones, controlling design and complexity, deep domain knowledge, being methodical and hypothesis-driven, and knowing what's worth building.","params":{"left":{"title":"Worth less","tone":"neutral","items":["Syntax and API details","Memorizing commands","Strong opinions on style and frameworks"],"at":"Losing value"},"right":{"title":"Worth far more","tone":"good","items":["Vision, milestones, taste","Design and complexity control","Domain knowledge; deciding what to build"],"at":"Gaining value"}},"start":26.63,"dur":27.308,"words":[{"text":"Here's","s":26.93,"e":27.21},{"text":"how","s":27.25,"e":27.33},{"text":"the","s":27.41,"e":27.49},{"text":"sources","s":27.57,"e":27.97},{"text":"sort","s":28.09,"e":28.21},{"text":"them.","s":28.29,"e":28.53},{"text":"Losing","s":29.09,"e":29.41},{"text":"value:","s":29.49,"e":30.29},{"text":"syntax","s":30.37,"e":31.01},{"text":"and","s":31.09,"e":31.17},{"text":"API","s":31.25,"e":31.65},{"text":"details,","s":31.73,"e":32.49},{"text":"memorizing","s":32.69,"e":33.17},{"text":"commands,","s":33.25,"e":34.05},{"text":"typing","s":34.25,"e":34.45},{"text":"speed,","s":34.53,"e":35.17},{"text":"and,","s":35.25,"e":35.73},{"text":"as","s":35.81,"e":35.89},{"text":"Boris","s":35.97,"e":36.21},{"text":"Cherny","s":36.29,"e":36.61},{"text":"says,","s":36.69,"e":37.17},{"text":"very","s":37.41,"e":37.65},{"text":"strong","s":37.73,"e":37.97},{"text":"opinions","s":38.05,"e":38.53},{"text":"about","s":38.65,"e":38.77},{"text":"code","s":38.85,"e":39.09},{"text":"style","s":39.17,"e":39.49},{"text":"and","s":39.57,"e":39.65},{"text":"frameworks.","s":39.73,"e":40.69},{"text":"Gaining","s":41.01,"e":41.41},{"text":"value:","s":41.81,"e":42.37},{"text":"having","s":42.61,"e":42.65},{"text":"a","s":42.69,"e":42.77},{"text":"vision","s":43.17,"e":43.21},{"text":"and","s":43.25,"e":43.41},{"text":"setting","s":43.65,"e":43.73},{"text":"milestones,","s":43.97,"e":44.89},{"text":"controlling","s":45.01,"e":45.57},{"text":"design","s":45.81,"e":45.85},{"text":"and","s":45.89,"e":45.97},{"text":"complexity,","s":46.37,"e":47.17},{"text":"deep","s":47.41,"e":47.49},{"text":"domain","s":47.81,"e":47.89},{"text":"knowledge,","s":48.37,"e":48.85},{"text":"being","s":49.01,"e":49.21},{"text":"methodical","s":49.41,"e":49.73},{"text":"and","s":49.81,"e":49.89},{"text":"hypothesis-driven,","s":50.05,"e":51.33},{"text":"and","s":51.57,"e":51.81},{"text":"knowing","s":51.97,"e":52.13},{"text":"what's","s":52.29,"e":52.37},{"text":"worth","s":52.53,"e":52.61},{"text":"building.","s":53.01,"e":53.33}]},{"template":"quote","chapter":"Your job now","narration":"Karpathy gives the rule of thumb. The things that agents can't do are your job now. The things agents can do, they can probably do better than you, or very soon. 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Mario Zechner says learning to say no is your most valuable capability right now: fewer features, but the ones that matter. Boris Cherny says the best person to write accounting software may be an accountant, because coding is now the easy part. And Martin Fowler reminds us that the core skill was always understanding what to write, which means talking to the people who use your software.","params":{"title":"Skills that compound","items":[{"text":"Saying no","sub":"fewer features, the ones that matter","at":"say no"},{"text":"Domain expertise","sub":"“the best person to write accounting software may be an accountant”","at":"accountant"},{"text":"Understanding users","sub":"knowing what to write, not just how","at":"use your software"}]},"start":69.177,"dur":26.916,"words":[{"text":"Some","s":69.477,"e":69.717},{"text":"of","s":69.797,"e":69.877},{"text":"those","s":69.997,"e":70.117},{"text":"skills","s":70.317,"e":70.517},{"text":"are","s":70.597,"e":70.677},{"text":"surprising.","s":70.757,"e":71.677},{"text":"Mario","s":71.957,"e":72.277},{"text":"Zechner","s":72.357,"e":72.837},{"text":"says","s":72.997,"e":73.157},{"text":"learning","s":73.397,"e":73.717},{"text":"to","s":73.797,"e":73.877},{"text":"say","s":73.957,"e":74.037},{"text":"no","s":74.197,"e":74.597},{"text":"is","s":74.677,"e":74.757},{"text":"your","s":74.837,"e":74.997},{"text":"most","s":75.077,"e":75.317},{"text":"valuable","s":75.397,"e":75.797},{"text":"capability","s":76.117,"e":76.437},{"text":"right","s":76.517,"e":76.597},{"text":"now:","s":76.677,"e":77.317},{"text":"fewer","s":77.397,"e":77.637},{"text":"features,","s":77.717,"e":78.517},{"text":"but","s":78.597,"e":78.677},{"text":"the","s":78.757,"e":78.837},{"text":"ones","s":78.957,"e":79.077},{"text":"that","s":79.157,"e":79.317},{"text":"matter.","s":79.477,"e":80.197},{"text":"Boris","s":80.277,"e":80.597},{"text":"Cherny","s":80.677,"e":81.077},{"text":"says","s":81.157,"e":81.397},{"text":"the","s":81.477,"e":81.637},{"text":"best","s":81.757,"e":81.877},{"text":"person","s":81.957,"e":82.197},{"text":"to","s":82.277,"e":82.357},{"text":"write","s":82.437,"e":82.517},{"text":"accounting","s":82.717,"e":82.997},{"text":"software","s":83.077,"e":83.637},{"text":"may","s":83.797,"e":83.957},{"text":"be","s":83.997,"e":84.037},{"text":"an","s":84.117,"e":84.157},{"text":"accountant,","s":84.197,"e":85.077},{"text":"because","s":85.157,"e":85.477},{"text":"coding","s":85.677,"e":85.877},{"text":"is","s":85.957,"e":86.117},{"text":"now","s":86.197,"e":86.277},{"text":"the","s":86.357,"e":86.437},{"text":"easy","s":86.597,"e":86.757},{"text":"part.","s":86.917,"e":87.557},{"text":"And","s":87.637,"e":87.717},{"text":"Martin","s":87.837,"e":87.957},{"text":"Fowler","s":88.117,"e":88.437},{"text":"reminds","s":88.517,"e":88.837},{"text":"us","s":88.917,"e":89.077},{"text":"that","s":89.157,"e":89.237},{"text":"the","s":89.317,"e":89.397},{"text":"core","s":89.477,"e":89.637},{"text":"skill","s":89.797,"e":90.117},{"text":"was","s":90.237,"e":90.357},{"text":"always","s":90.437,"e":90.837},{"text":"understanding","s":90.997,"e":91.477},{"text":"what","s":91.637,"e":91.797},{"text":"to","s":91.877,"e":91.957},{"text":"write,","s":92.077,"e":92.597},{"text":"which","s":92.677,"e":92.757},{"text":"means","s":92.837,"e":93.077},{"text":"talking","s":93.117,"e":93.397},{"text":"to","s":93.477,"e":93.557},{"text":"the","s":93.597,"e":93.637},{"text":"people","s":93.717,"e":93.957},{"text":"who","s":94.037,"e":94.197},{"text":"use","s":94.277,"e":94.517},{"text":"your","s":94.597,"e":94.677},{"text":"software.","s":94.917,"e":95.477}]},{"template":"statement","chapter":"Cognitive debt","narration":"Now a risk. When agents write code faster than you can absorb it, you build up cognitive debt: the gap between what the code does and what you understand about it. Simon Willison's answer is to pay it down deliberately, by improving your understanding of how the code works.","params":{"text":"Code you don't understand is *cognitive debt*.","sub":"“How do we pay down cognitive debt? 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