{"id":751,"date":"2026-05-01T10:50:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T08:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=751"},"modified":"2026-05-15T13:01:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:01:52","slug":"developer-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/blog\/developer-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"What developers will do differently in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"section section-blocks\">\n    <div class=\"container\" data-reveal-group>\n        <div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n        <div class=\"block is-content\">\n                            <h2>What a developer does differently in 2026<\/h2>\n                                        <p>Ten years ago, \u2018developer\u2019 was largely synonymous with \u2018someone who types code\u2019. For a <strong>developer in 2026<\/strong> Is that perspective too narrow? At Fresh-Dev, we're seeing it in our own work: the writing itself is faster, and the thinking around it becomes more important.<\/p><p>In this article:<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"#typen\">Coding is increasingly less of the work<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#ai-collega\">AI as a colleague<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#mededenker\">From executor to co-thinker<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#vaardigheden\">What this asks of a developer in 2026<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#dagelijks\">What a working day looks like with us<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#opdrachtgever\">What this means for your project<\/a><\/li><\/ul>                                <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-content\" id=\"typen\">\n                            <h2>Coding is increasingly less of the work<\/h2>\n                                        <p>AI tools are taking over a lot of routine work: boilerplate, tests, migrations, documentation. Not in a few years, but already today, in every serious codebase. What we'll do less as a result: writing out rules that we also wrote before. What we'll do more: deciding what needs to come, and checking if it's correct.<\/p>\n<p>The average day for a developer in 2026 looks different to five years ago. Less typing themselves, more reviewing, directing, and connecting. A feature that used to take three days of typing is now often half a day of prompt work and half a day of careful review.<\/p>\n                                <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-content\" id=\"ai-collega\">\n                            <h2>AI as a colleague<\/h2>\n                                        <p>The prediction that AI will wipe out jobs is accurate for some tasks. For the work we do, we're primarily seeing a shift. AI is good at pattern recognition, rapid production, and endless repetition. Humans are still better at understanding context, weighing priorities, and choosing what not to build.<\/p>\n<p>The combination wins. A developer in 2026 who works without AI will be less productive than a developer who works with it skilfully. Tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anthropic.com\/claude-code\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Claude Code<\/a> English <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/features\/copilot\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">GitHub Copilot<\/a> are now part of the toolbox, just as a good IDE became ten years ago.<\/p>\n                                <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-quote\">\n            <p>We write less code and build more.<\/p>\n                            <span>\u2013 Backenders Team Fresh-Dev<\/span>\n                    <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-content\" id=\"mededenker\">\n                            <h2>From executor to co-thinker<\/h2>\n                                        <p>In the past, a development team was often seen as the department that executed what marketing or product had conceived. That no longer fits. The barrier to validating an idea has fallen enormously: a prototype that used to take weeks can now be done in a day.<\/p><p>This means the developer will automatically move forward in the process in 2026. For us, this means: more input on what makes sense to build, and asking questions earlier before we start. Not just \u2018can this be done\u2019, but also \u2018should this be done\u2019. Often, a good question upfront prevents ten days of work at the back end.<\/p>                                <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-image\">\n            <div class=\"image-holder\">\n                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/claude-2.png.webp\" alt=\"Developer in 2026 working with AI tools alongside Xcode\">\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-content\" id=\"vaardigheden\">\n                            <h2>What this asks of a developer in 2026<\/h2>\n                                        <p>A few things are becoming more important:<\/p><ul><li><strong>Being able to accurately assess what AI can and cannot do<\/strong>Anders bouw je iets dat eruitziet alsof het werkt, maar bij de eerste uitzonderlijke situatie omvalt.<\/li><li><strong>Architectural thinking<\/strong>how does this feature tie into the rest, what will it be doing in two years\u2018 time.<\/li><li><strong>Communication with clients<\/strong>A good question saves ten days of work.<\/li><li><strong>Adhere to quality<\/strong>AI delivers quickly, but not always well. Reviewing and testing have therefore become more important.<\/li><li><strong>To be able to learn quickly<\/strong>The toolset is changing faster than ever. Sticking to one framework no longer works.<\/li><\/ul>                                <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-content\" id=\"dagelijks\">\n                            <h2>What a working day looks like with us<\/h2>\n                                        <p>A concrete example from our week. We start a new feature with a short session where we thrash out the business requirement. After that, we let Claude Code create an initial draft based on a precise brief. What comes out then goes through a review by a developer who knows the codebase well. Only then does it move towards tests and deployment.<\/p>\n<p>The difference compared to a few years ago: the first working version is available faster, with more thinking time dedicated to preparation and review. By 2026, this will be the new normal for a developer.<\/p>\n                                <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-content\" id=\"opdrachtgever\">\n                            <h2>What this means for your project<\/h2>\n                                        <p>Whether you're having a new website built or an existing system further developed: you'll be working with a team that can deliver a first version faster, but also thinks critically about the direction earlier on. In most cases, that's a win.<\/p><p>What this asks of you as a client: a little more room to adapt to new insights, and less of a tendency to fix everything in detail beforehand. In our <a href=\"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/work\/\">work<\/a> Do you see how that way of working together is shaping up?.<\/p>                                <\/div>\n        \n\n        <div class=\"block is-content\">\n                            <h2>Curious what this will yield for your project?<\/h2>\n                                        <p>Are you facing a digital challenge and want to brainstorm how to approach it smartly? Take a look at <a href=\"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/services\/\">we do<\/a> plan a conversation directly.<\/p>                                <div class=\"button-holder\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/contact\/\" class=\"button\">Plan a conversation<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n        \n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A developer in 2026 does more than tap out code. Seven shifts that have fundamentally changed our work over the past few years.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":1135,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"blog_category":[6],"class_list":["post-751","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","blog_category-ai-innovatie"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"blog_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresh-dev.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_category?post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}