# Technology Careers as Programming Costs Fall DevFeed: [Technology Careers as Programming Costs Fall]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Marc Brooker Published: 2026-02-07T00:00:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Marc Brooker's Blog](), [Marc Brooker's Blog]() Topics: [Programming](), [Code]() Tags: [programming](), [tools]() ## AI overview An opinion piece argues that the cost of turning business logic into code and integrating services and libraries is now near zero, while building reliable, secure end-to-end systems is becoming cheaper more slowly. It considers the resulting uncertainty and opportunities for technology careers. ## Source excerpt You Are Here Where to next? The cost of turning written business logic into code has dropped to zero. Or, at best, near-zero. The cost of integrating services and libraries, the plumbing of the code world, has dropped to zero. Or, at best, near-zero. The cost of building efficient, reliable, secure, end-to-end systems is starting to drop, but slowly. Where does that leave those of us who have built careers in technology? Our road diverges. Not into the undergrowth of a wood, but into a dense fog. The future is harder to see than ever. But lets peer forward and see as best we can. On the first road we can see this as the end to a craft we have loved. The slow end of programming as an economic discipline, as weaving, ploughing, and coopering went before. It is reasonable and rational to feel a sense of loss, and a sense of uncertainty. With the loss of the craft comes the loss of the economic moment where that craft was valued beyond nearly any other. Perhaps any other in history. It is irrational to feel denial. You are here. On the second road we can see this moment as the beginning of something new. With new tools comes greater opportunity than ever. Greater economic opportunity for those who value that. Greater technical opportunity for those who value that. The most powerful set of new tools since the dawn of computing itself. With these tools come risk, and with risk comes opportunity. With these tools come new industries, new fields of research, and new careers. All bring opportunity. The First Road Back at university, I knew this guy. Mostly retired. An absolute wizz at circuit design and analog electronics. Like nobody I've encountered since. In the late 1960s, him and some buddies started a hardware company. They'd seen digital electronics coming, the 74 series had just launched. They didn't like it. No class. No beauty. Unreliable and full of problems. So they started this company betting that serious customers wouldn't accept the downsides of digital logic