September 22, 2026

I'm Not PS1 Hagrid - And That's Okay

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how software development has changed for me.

In some ways, it’s helped my imposter syndrome, and in others, it’s made it worse. I used to think that because I was not some mystical code wizard, I wasn’t a good enough software engineer.

Instead, I turned my focus to developer tooling - how could I make the development process have less friction for others? How could I make the codebase better to work with over time?

Now, with AI, the script has been flipped. The mystical code wizard lives on a server, and it’s now my job to prevent said wizard from unleashing some otherworldly monster spawn from the depths of of the netherworld. All the focus that I put into developer tooling, QA workflows and the like have now become more important than ever. And it feels like a mix of controlled chaos and magic. Now the imposter syndrome is a bit scarier - will the robots leave me with a job in 5 years? But given I don’t have actual magical powers to see into the future, the best I can do is, well, my best. And I guess that’s the good part in all of this.

Instead of comparing myself to mystical code wizards, I’m comparing myself to myself. And that’s a much healthier place to be.