How to Prepare for the Future of Programming

Source: Dev.to

You’re not alone. As a writer, I’m also panicking. Why read this when you could ask the same question to your LLM of choice and have a lively discussion perfectly tuned to be as broad or technical, long or short, playful or serious, as you want it to be? This thought has tormented me for days and this post remained a blank document. The only thing that saved me was remembering why I made this series in the first place.

I wanted to create a resource for learners to better understand programming within the context of our new AI world. I made a case for why it’s still worth learning to code, explored the psychology of beginner programmers, and discussed whether you should use AI at all. So, now what?

We know that programming will change – that programming has changed. But how exactly? And how much? What knowledge can we be sure will remain fundamental? What should we learn to prepare for the worlds to come?

There are a variety of answers depending on where you stand. Is your net worth positively correlated with AI hype? Is your job too complicated, social, or important for AI? How is your relationship with risk? How do you feel about change? What do you believe about what the future needs?

These are not questions anyone can answer for you. Not me, not a tech CEO, not your mom, and certainly not a chatbot. We live in a world with platforms and educational institutions jumping to answer “What can I learn?” (a small reminder to check out our catalog of free courses), but there are very few resources that will give good answers to questions like “What should I learn?”, “Can you really justify why?”, and “Can you promise me it will remain useful?”.

I can’t guarantee that anything you learn will remain useful in the years to come, but I am certain that learning will. On that subject, here are a few short recommendations on how to prepare for the future of programming.

Understand the flaws of your education

Are you in a large institution that is slow to adapt? Is AI use being discussed openly or banned from the classroom? Are you self‑studying at your own pace, but lack any network of peers or mentors? Is your education giving you a broad overview of a field (a Bachelor’s degree) or is it leading you toward specialization and a specific job (bootcamp/internship)?

Both approaches are useful; they just work on different timelines. A broad overview can give you more options when the field changes, while a specialization can help you in the short term. Either way, try to compensate in the direction of your weaknesses so you’re not left overqualified and underemployed, or unemployable when your only skill becomes redundant.

📚 Exercise: Take 10–20 minutes to reflect on your education from a zoomed‑out perspective. Think about what it does well and what gaps you might be left with. Below are a few recommendations on how to fill those gaps, but feel free to brainstorm your own as well.

How to broaden your knowledge

If you’ve got practical skills but worry about their shelf life, now is the time to foster curiosity about the wider scope of your field. This feels different than learning a concrete skill, since there are fewer obvious ways to assess progress. Pay attention to moments when ideas from different domains click together—that’s a sign you’re expanding your general knowledge and seeing the big picture.

Practical ways to broaden your knowledge

• 🧑‍🎓 Follow short courses in other domains. Our knowledge map can help you visualize subjects you might find interesting, or you can even consider departing from computing altogether. Bringing technical expertise to a writing course might lead to great science‑fiction, or an interesting exercise in applied philosophy.
• 🧰 Work on projects that use a broad skill set but don’t require professional excellence. Build a silly app that needs a little frontend, a little backend, API work, and even graphic design. It might be ugly and inefficient—the point is that you did it. If motivation is low, partner with someone who has a different skill set and swap roles.
• 👯 Focus on communication and critical thinking. Even if you consider yourself “technical,” these soft skills are crucial for navigating an uncertain future, as purely technical jobs are often the easiest to automate.

How to deepen your knowledge

Personally, I find it hard to specialize. I jump between interests, rarely sticking with anything long enough to achieve mastery. This used to stress me out—how could I be good at my job if I couldn’t commit to one thing? I’ve learned that the pressure to specialize is often about legibility, not capability. We like people who are easy to categorize. In practice, proficiency in one skill makes it easier to pick up others.

Depth is what makes you adaptable. Surface‑level knowledge can become outdated quickly. Understanding underlying principles—how systems actually work, not just how to use them—lets you transfer what you know to new tools and frameworks. When the landscape shifts, you’re not starting from scratch.