Dear Developer: You Are Not Your Tools

I’ve been lucky enough to interact with computers since 1996. I’ve used so many tools over the years that I couldn’t name them all if I tried. What I do remember is the awe—that feeling of pure wonder the first time I used them. It was like watching a magic trick. That sense of discovery was one of the forces that pulled me into writing software decades ago.

I started programming with Turbo Pascal, then moved to Delphi, C, C++, and Java. I was always looking for the next tool that was faster, stronger, or could do more. I remember when tools started to have windows and buttons you could move around with your mouse, with pieces you could just drop in, and programs that almost built themselves.

Enter another tool.

Visual Basic 6 took that further. Suddenly, I could build programs with a mouse instead of a keyboard. At first, I was thrilled. The speed was intoxicating. However, over time, I noticed something weird: everything I built started to look the same. My creativity was bending to fit the tool, and the work was no longer a reflection of me.

Using an IDE became the default when working with software. NetBeans, then Eclipse, one after the other. Each faster, heavier, “smarter.” Launching Eclipse was INSANE it took like ten minutes to open. However, in 2005, I was introduced to Django, a Python web framework that required nothing more than a text editor. I was done waiting for bloated IDEs to boot. With Python, I could start coding in seconds. It was liberating.

Here’s a lesson I learned: What really matters is your creativity in solving a problem.

So I dropped IDEs altogether and moved to Linux. My first text editor was Scribes (I loved it), then Sublime Text, later Visual Studio Code, and now Zed. Always simpler, always closer to the craft.

Enter AI.

And now, here we are again. A new wave of tools promising to code for us. AI-assisted development. Autocomplete on steroids. Wizards that spit out entire apps in a few clicks. It feels like déjà vu—the same promises IDEs made decades ago. Yes, AI is useful as a Stack Overflow replacement and a tool to come back to and refine your ideas, but not as a means to delegate your thinking.

That’s why it’s important to say this: dear developer, you are not your tools.

Tools come and go. What makes you valuable is not the editor, not the framework, not the AI. It’s your creativity. Your ability to see a problem, imagine a solution, and shape it into reality. That can’t be drag-and-dropped. Claude Code can’t replace that. Don’t delegate your thinking.

Some say the career of the software developer is over. I’ve heard that line before. And yet, here we are. Still solving problems, still writing software, still complaining.

Creativity isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s unique.

💌 Unique as you are.