What Happened to the "Magic" of Making Software?

When I started in software development (1997), it was exciting. Everybody was just figuring it out as they went. There really was a kind of "magic" in it. Everybody worked together to find and fix issues, and they were all learning and building together.

At any gathering, we would seek out others with a passion for software. We’d go to local user group meetings and talk incessantly about whatever we were into (APIs, front-end, hypermedia, dev tools), what side projects we were working on, and how we would run things if we were in charge.

I used to have 'Geekends'—Geek Weekends. I’d lock myself in my office from Friday at 5 p.m. until Sunday night and build (many, many side projects), or study (like the weekend I spent learning Docker basics), or compare tools (I once spent a weekend comparing JavaScript build systems). I would code and sleep. That’s pretty much it. I loved it. The adventure. The feeling of walking into the wild with nothing but some rough requirements and your wits. Fuck yeah.

So, what changed?

Over the years, the tech industry has become commoditized, productized, and sanitized. It's a business now. Which is good for those people who want to make a bunch of money in tech, but it was ever about the money for me. I enjoyed being out there on the hairy edge with my fellow pioneers, trying to bend the software to our will. We were ALL figuring it out.

Now, there are private equity firms buying up tech companies. There are entire sub-industries built around software, now. There are people buying and selling stock from companies that don't really have a product, or profit. It just seems to be all about money now, instead of just building stuff.

Take it down a notch, hippie.

Look. I understand. Software is a business. There's now lots of money involved. That means more of the greedy business folk are out to make their millions. But for me, it was never about the money. I felt a deep comraderie with my fellow developers, and a healthy disdain for salespeople. :D Even though I know, if it weren't for the salespeople, we wouldn't have paying gigs. It just seems to have shifted to be ALL about money.

So, you're done with techology then?

Not even close. There’s real magic happening in tech again — and it’s happening in AI. I use AI tools kibda like a search engine that doesn’t just give you links, but gives you leverage. And yeah, that’s pretty cool.

But here’s my dilemma: I don’t want to build the next foundation model. I don’t want to write papers on tokenization strategies. I want to build something useful with AI — maybe a custom agent, a local model with memory, something that solves a real problem.

But I didn’t get in early. And I don’t know what “getting in” looks like now. What does the middle on-ramp look like for folks who aren’t beginners — but also aren’t neck-deep in deep learning?

If there’s a path for builders — people who’ve shipped real products, led teams, solved hard problems — I want to find it. Because AI feels like the frontier again. And maybe, just maybe, there’s still room for folks like me on the next expedition.

What do you want to do, then?

I want to find a small team of explorers. Builders. And find a way to jump in their wagon. Build with them— maybe using AI, maybe not. I don’t need to chase unicorns or rewrite the laws of physics. I want to build something useful with people who still give a shit.

I want to feel like people matter more than money. That growth isn’t the goal — meaning is.

I've built teams, software, and community. I’ve seen what happens when people care. When teams click. When everyone’s building, learning, and growing: together. Not just for the raises or bonuses, but because they believe.

A guy can dream.

If there are still people out there building things with soul — not just scale — I hope we find each other.