{"slug":"we-dont-write-code-we-manage-it","author":{"name":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","handle":"mfurkanyilmazzz","url":"https://furkanmind.com/about"},"language":"en","url":"https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/we-dont-write-code-we-manage-it","canonical":"https://furkanmind.com/mind/kod-yazmiyoruz-kod-yonetiyoruz","alternates":{"tr":"https://furkanmind.com/mind/kod-yazmiyoruz-kod-yonetiyoruz","en":"https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/we-dont-write-code-we-manage-it"},"markdown_url":"https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/we-dont-write-code-we-manage-it.md","title":"We don't write code anymore, we manage it","thesis":"What happened to software developers will happen to all of us: when calculation moved to machines, human computers didn't vanish, they started running the machines; the same is happening to code, and what matters now is not writing it but explaining what you want, checking the result and taking responsibility.","summary_markdown":"## Nobody at my company has written code by hand for months\n\nI run a software company. I build software systems for my clients. But at our company, nobody has written code by hand for months. I want to explain what that means, because what is happening to software will happen to all of us.\n\n## Three stages\n\nWe went through this change in three stages.\n\n1. **We wrote code by hand.** For years we went through every line one by one. We read it, added, removed, and got systems working.\n2. **AI wrote, we checked.** From mid-2023 to the end of 2025, roughly two years, it worked like this.\n3. **We only look at reports, results and tests.** The code itself no longer matters.\n\nThe other day I told Kemal that GitHub doesn't really make sense anymore. GitHub is where code is kept along with its change history. We used to review each other's code there. Today it would make much more sense to just see the reports, the outputs and the test results.\n\nI still look at the code, but deep down I know I don't have to. I look because I've taken responsibility for client projects. What matters isn't the code itself; it's seeing what the code is for, what it aims at and what results it produces. It's a strange feeling. For years we were people hunting for bugs caused by a single line, a single letter.\n\n## A lost profession: computer\n\n\"Computer\" used to be a job. Before NASA and in NASA's early years, hundreds of women did it. By 1946 nearly 400 women had been trained to do the delicate calculations for aircraft, and later rockets, with paper, pencil and calculators.\n\nOne of them was Dorothy Vaughan. In 1949 she was leading a team of Black women computers. Then electronic computers arrived and started doing their work.\n\nDorothy didn't cry or complain. She taught herself FORTRAN, taught it to her team, and they started running those machines.\n\nDid calculation disappear? No. It just moved to the machine. But people who understood the math and could check it were still needed. This story is told in the film Hidden Figures.\n\n## That's what is happening to code\n\nIf calculation moved from people to machines and people started managing the machines, the same is happening to code today. We don't write code anymore, we're starting to manage it. And managing code is at least as important a job as writing it.\n\nIt's not just me saying this. In 2024, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on a podcast that business applications are essentially databases with rules on top, and that the logic will eventually move entirely to AI. This April, Salesforce, the company that taught the world to sell software per seat, opened its whole platform to AI agents. The product is called Headless 360: no head, no screen.\n\nMy takeaway: there will be one AI in front of us, and we'll talk to it. Behind it, other screenless AIs will run the systems.\n\n## What should a young developer do?\n\nLearning to code is still valuable. Not to write code, but to read it and question it. Three things matter most:\n\n1. **Explaining very clearly what you want.** AI only gives you the result of what you asked for.\n2. **Being able to check the result.** Understanding the reports and seeing whether what you wanted matches what came out.\n3. **Taking responsibility.** You can't tell your client or your manager \"the machine did it.\" You'll have to say \"I did it.\" Even if AI does the work, someone has to own it, and that person will be you.\n\n## I don't want to romanticize this\n\nI still check the code, especially on client projects. My trust in AI is building over time. On most of my own work, I only look at the results.\n\nBut we have to accept this: the direction is clear. Three years, five years. Software will have turned from a writing job into a managing job.\n\nScreens are disappearing a little more every day. Which side of this are you on?","summary_html":"

Nobody at my company has written code by hand for months

\n

I run a software company. I build software systems for my clients. But at our company, nobody has written code by hand for months. I want to explain what that means, because what is happening to software will happen to all of us.

\n

Three stages

\n

We went through this change in three stages.

\n
    \n
  1. We wrote code by hand. For years we went through every line one by one. We read it, added, removed, and got systems working.
    2. \n
  2. AI wrote, we checked. From mid-2023 to the end of 2025, roughly two years, it worked like this.
    3. \n
  3. We only look at reports, results and tests. The code itself no longer matters.
    4. \n
\n

The other day I told Kemal that GitHub doesn’t really make sense anymore. GitHub is where code is kept along with its change history. We used to review each other’s code there. Today it would make much more sense to just see the reports, the outputs and the test results.

\n

I still look at the code, but deep down I know I don’t have to. I look because I’ve taken responsibility for client projects. What matters isn’t the code itself; it’s seeing what the code is for, what it aims at and what results it produces. It’s a strange feeling. For years we were people hunting for bugs caused by a single line, a single letter.

\n

A lost profession: computer

\n

“Computer” used to be a job. Before NASA and in NASA’s early years, hundreds of women did it. By 1946 nearly 400 women had been trained to do the delicate calculations for aircraft, and later rockets, with paper, pencil and calculators.

\n

One of them was Dorothy Vaughan. In 1949 she was leading a team of Black women computers. Then electronic computers arrived and started doing their work.

\n

Dorothy didn’t cry or complain. She taught herself FORTRAN, taught it to her team, and they started running those machines.

\n

Did calculation disappear? No. It just moved to the machine. But people who understood the math and could check it were still needed. This story is told in the film Hidden Figures.

\n

That’s what is happening to code

\n

If calculation moved from people to machines and people started managing the machines, the same is happening to code today. We don’t write code anymore, we’re starting to manage it. And managing code is at least as important a job as writing it.

\n

It’s not just me saying this. In 2024, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on a podcast that business applications are essentially databases with rules on top, and that the logic will eventually move entirely to AI. This April, Salesforce, the company that taught the world to sell software per seat, opened its whole platform to AI agents. The product is called Headless 360: no head, no screen.

\n

My takeaway: there will be one AI in front of us, and we’ll talk to it. Behind it, other screenless AIs will run the systems.

\n

What should a young developer do?

\n

Learning to code is still valuable. Not to write code, but to read it and question it. Three things matter most:

\n
    \n
  1. Explaining very clearly what you want. AI only gives you the result of what you asked for.
    2. \n
  2. Being able to check the result. Understanding the reports and seeing whether what you wanted matches what came out.
    3. \n
  3. Taking responsibility. You can’t tell your client or your manager “the machine did it.” You’ll have to say “I did it.” Even if AI does the work, someone has to own it, and that person will be you.
    4. \n
\n

I don’t want to romanticize this

\n

I still check the code, especially on client projects. My trust in AI is building over time. On most of my own work, I only look at the results.

\n

But we have to accept this: the direction is clear. Three years, five years. Software will have turned from a writing job into a managing job.

\n

Screens are disappearing a little more every day. Which side of this are you on?

\n","status":"testing","translation":{"status":"machine","notice":"AI translation of Furkan's Turkish original (Claude via MCP) — not yet reviewed."},"topic":{"slug":"yapay-zeka-doneminde-biz-ne-yapacagiz","name":"What do we do in the age of AI?","url":"https://furkanmind.com/en/topics/yapay-zeka-doneminde-biz-ne-yapacagiz"},"published_at":"2026-10-22T13:07:23+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-22T13:07:33+00:00","metrics":{"views":0,"likes":0,"replies":0,"reposts":0,"shares":0},"distributions":[{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXKZLQYGTzg","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T14:50:35+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SjGEMkqXE4","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T14:50:29+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZWXGFCl4I4","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T14:50:24+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZREPXtk7OE","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T14:50:18+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFh8RKQembw","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T14:50:12+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huz-Doptmwc","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T14:50:06+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDtIXB-TN3o","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T14:48:13+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SO5WwfRFTA","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T14:48:06+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIOv-V1Aqdo","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:48:22+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNBKlLa6VDI","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:48:16+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISp1s8QguJE","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:48:11+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCMJCwV6ass","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:48:05+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHDY63G2wpM","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:41:18+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6NJl2Vqm30","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:41:11+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyUd4GmNs8I","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:41:06+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHtYm8j-BRE","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:38:05+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga2A4NRQfXU","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:37:21+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFpCXzUN_I4","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:37:16+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKFsmtL4bDc","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:37:12+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_mC72Ckh48","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:37:08+00:00","metrics":null},{"platform":"youtube","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB7iPY2S6HU","account":"Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz","published_at":"2026-10-22T13:06:14+00:00","metrics":{"views":0,"likes":0,"replies":0,"reposts":0,"shares":0,"captured_at":"2026-10-22T13:07:33+00:00"}}],"links":[{"type":"related","direction":"out","label":"related","slug":"yapay-zeka-isimizi-alacak-mi-yanlis-soru","title":"Will AI take our jobs? Wrong question.","thesis":"The question is no longer \"will AI take our jobs.\" The question is: what will we do together with AI?","url":"https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/will-ai-take-our-jobs-wrong-question"},{"type":"supports","direction":"out","label":"supports","slug":"yeni-meslegimiz-cobanlik-mi","title":"Yeni mesleğimiz çobanlık mı?","thesis":"Kendi başına iş yapan bir yapay zekâ kurmak herkes için kolaylaşıyor; kıt olan şey yapay zekâ değil, o sürüyü güdecek ve sorumluluğunu alacak insan olacak.","url":"https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/yeni-meslegimiz-cobanlik-mi"},{"type":"extends","direction":"out","label":"extends","slug":"arayuzler-gidiyor-mu","title":"Are interfaces going away?","thesis":"Software isn't dying, the interface is: Kodak didn't eliminate the darkroom, it made it someone else's job, and today the interface tax of screens, tabs and go-here-copy-paste is moving to AI the same way.","url":"https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/are-interfaces-going-away"}],"previous_theses":[],"license":"CC BY 4.0"}