This early December, the re:Invent Conference, organized by Amazon AWS, was held in Vegas, and I was happy to attend it in person. From the opening keynote to the closing one, it was all about AI. From my perspective, the most powerful message was Dr. Wagner Vogel's in the closing keynote, and this article will give you my interpretation.

Back to the Beginning

At the dawn of the computer era, the first programmers used to punch cards. When high-level computer languages went mainstream, the programmers were considered obsolete. Then, after C, C++, and Java, the cloud went mainstream. Each of these steps in computer evolution came with a predicament: from that moment on, programmers would lose their jobs, yet more programmer jobs were created.

Are We Obsolete?

Yet, today we find ourselves in a new era, the era of AI. Would the programmers lose their jobs this time?

There is a simple answer: no, and a big if: if we evolve.

Dr. Wagner Vogel goes on to introduce a new framework for how developers should think and evolve: The Renaissance Developer. Below is the embedded YouTube video of his keynote, which I strongly recommend you watch.

The Renaissance Developer. Key Takeaways

What does it mean to be a Renaissance developer?

  1. Be curious: a Renaissance developer should keep their mind open, accept changes and new ways of approaching and resolving programming issues.
  2. Think in systems: a Renaissance developer should look at the entire picture, not just the task at hand, and needs to understand how systems work and how variables can influence the outcome.
  3. Communicate: a Renaissance developer needs to know how to communicate clearly and explain issues to peers and machines.
  4. Own your work: a Renaissance developer needs to be the owner of the work, even if, let's say, the code is AI-generated. It's not the machine's fault if things go south, but it's the developer's fault who used the machine in the process.
  5. Be a polymath: a Renaissance developer should be deep into one domain and broad across many others, a complementary attribute to be curious.

Conclusion

AI may be over-talked, but it is here to stay, and we, the Renaissance developers, must embrace it as part of our own craft. This way, we will be super-powered, not obsolete.

P.S. As this article will be published on the 1st of January 2026, I wish my readers a happy and prosperous New Year!