What I’m Doing to Not Become Irrelevant

I wrote recently about the developer identity crisis. The weird feeling of watching AI do the work we spent years learning to do ourselves.

But naming the problem isn’t enough. I’ve been thinking about what to actually do about it. What habits keep us sharp. What makes a developer valuable when the execution layer is being automated.

I don’t have all the answers. But I’ve been experimenting. Here’s what I’m trying.

I Still Write Code By Hand

There’s a real risk in the AI-assisted workflow: you stop coding.

I noticed it happening to me. Language features I used to know cold got fuzzy. I was slower without the AI. Rustier. Looking up things that used to be automatic.

So I started doing LeetCode again. Not because I’m interviewing anywhere. Just to keep the muscle memory alive.

It feels a bit like practicing flatground tricks at an empty parking lot. Nobody’s filming you do kickflips for Instagram there. But if you stop drilling the basics, your whole game falls apart when it actually matters.

I’m not trying to compete with AI on speed. I gave up on that. But I need to keep my judgment sharp enough to evaluate what the AI produces. And that requires actually understanding code at a level you can only maintain by writing it.

I’m Learning to Be Visible

This one feels uncomfortable to write about. I’m not naturally someone who promotes their work. I always figured good work speaks for itself.

It doesn’t. Not anymore.

When AI can theoretically do what you do, you need to show that you’re the one making things happen. Not in a braggy way. Just… clearly. Document your decisions. Share your thinking in PRs and meetings. Write about what you’re learning.

If your work is invisible, people will assume AI could replace you. Maybe not consciously. But when cuts happen, the people nobody notices are the first to go.

I’m still figuring out how to do this without feeling gross about it. But I’ve accepted that it’s part of the job now.

Every Developer Is Becoming a Team Lead

Here’s a weird realization I had: the skills for leading AI agents are the same skills for leading people.

Breaking down ambiguous problems into clear tasks. Providing enough context so others can execute well. Reviewing work and course-correcting. Unblocking progress. Communicating status.

That’s management. That’s tech leading. And now that’s also… prompting?

If you’re orchestrating a bunch of AI agents, you’re basically running a team. A very fast, very literal team that does exactly what you say. Which means you better say the right things.

The upside is that you have more resources than ever. You can be bolder with what you take on because you have the capacity to actually execute it. But only if you know how to lead.

Communication skills, leadership skills. These were always important. Now they’re the whole job.

I Keep a Dev Journal

This is maybe the simplest habit, and it makes all the others easier.

Every day I write down what I worked on. What I accomplished. What went wrong. What decisions I made and why.

It sounds basic. But when AI does the implementation, it’s easy to lose track of your own contributions. The journal anchors it.

It also makes 1:1s with my manager way easier. Performance reviews too. Instead of scrambling to remember what I did six months ago, I just look it up. I have receipts.

And there’s something about writing things down that creates clarity. I notice patterns. I see when I’m spinning my wheels. I catch myself before I waste a week on something that doesn’t matter.

I Automated My Morning Planning

This is the meta move: using AI to help me stay relevant in the AI era.

I set up an automation with OpenClaw that runs every morning. It gathers context from my work. What’s in progress, what’s blocked, what the priorities are. Then it suggests where I should focus, how I can help unblock others, and how to communicate my impact without being annoying about it.

The output is a day plan broken into pomodoros. I know exactly what I’m doing and when.

Before this, I’d start my day scattered. Check Slack. Check email. Context-switch for an hour before doing anything useful. Now I start with clarity.

It’s not about working harder. It’s about not wasting time figuring out what to work on.

I Do Things That Aren’t Work

I almost didn’t include this one because it sounds like generic self-help advice. But it’s been more important than I expected.

The temptation when everything is changing is to grind harder. Learn more. Stay online longer. Keep up with every new tool, every new technique, every new AI model drop.

That’s a trap.

I skate. Have for years. And I’ve noticed something: the days I get on my board, I’m better at my job. Not despite the time away from the screen. Because of it.

There’s something about skateboarding that clears my head in a way nothing else does. You can’t think about work when you’re trying to land a trick. You can’t worry about AI taking your job when you’re focused on not eating concrete. It forces presence.

And when I come back to work, I think more clearly. I make better decisions. I’m less reactive, less anxious about all the change happening around us.

I’ve noticed the opposite too. When I skip skating for a few weeks, when I’m just grinding at the computer every day, I get worse. Not better. My thinking gets foggy. I burn out on things I used to enjoy. I make dumber calls.

If your whole identity is “developer,” and that identity feels threatened, you’re going to spiral. Having something else gives you stability. A sport, a hobby, anything that pulls you out of your head. A foundation that doesn’t shake every time a new model drops.

Take care of yourself. The developers who burn out won’t be around to see what happens next.

The Common Thread

All of this requires being intentional. That’s the actual habit underneath the habits.

The developers who fall behind will be the ones who just let things happen to them. Who assume their skills stay relevant automatically. Who keep doing what they’ve always done because it worked before.

The job changed. We have to change with it. Not by panicking, but by building habits that keep us sharp, visible, and grounded.

I don’t know if I’m doing it right. But I’m trying.

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