In Ten Years, Everyone Can Be a Developer

In ten years, everyone can create their own app. Hell, even a browser!

How many times have I written on this blog the magic sentence “mark my words”? I believe a certain number of times. Maybe even too many.

But here’s another one: mark my words.

I’m a product manager. I don’t have developer skills. Probably won’t learn any soon, at an acceptable level.

But hey, I don’t have to anymore.

The New Execution Model

I’m certain—in ten years, everyone can be a developer. You have an idea, and the execution is a matter of how well you operate with AI. And how stubborn and resilient you are.

That’s it. Idea + AI fluency + persistence = shipped product.

A Gorillaz Browser, Anyone?

Let’s say I’m a die-hard Gorillaz fan. I want to create a browser with their leitmotif. Here’s what Claude suggests when I ask for 5 unique selling points:

Me: Let’s say I want to create a desktop browser for the Gorillaz band fandom. What would be 5 USPs?

Claude:

Phase-shifting UI — The browser’s visual theme dynamically transforms to match the current “Phase” era of Gorillaz (Phase 1’s raw comic aesthetic, Phase 4’s psychedelic neon, etc.), making the browsing experience feel like living inside the band’s evolving universe.

Murdoc’s Dark Web Radar — A built-in privacy/tracker blocker styled as Murdoc’s suspicious paranoia meter, showing blocked trackers with lore-accurate commentary and insults from the characters.

Kong Studios New Tab — Every new tab opens as an interactive Kong Studios hub—your bookmarks, speed dial, and widgets are embedded into the animated studio environment with the four characters present.

Noodle’s Translation Engine — A built-in multilingual page translator with a personality layer, framed as Noodle’s polyglot skills, with optional character voice narration for selected text (using the band’s iconic audio aesthetic).

2D’s Playlist Sidebar — A persistent music sidebar that surfaces Gorillaz tracks, remixes, and fan-curated playlists synced with Spotify or YouTube, styled around 2D’s melancholic but dreamy personality—with mood-based recommendations tied to your browsing context.

Not bad for 30 seconds of work.

How This Actually Gets Built

Then I “hire” AI code assistants. When I have enough resources (AKA $$$), I “hire” ten AI agents, and I have my browser within a month.

When I see how fast the AI environment changes—and it looks like exponential growth—I’m certain it’s possible.

What This Means

The barrier to building software isn’t technical knowledge anymore. It’s vision. Persistence. The ability to communicate what you want clearly enough that AI can help you build it.

That’s a completely different skill set. And it’s one that more people have access to.

The question isn’t whether you can code. The question is whether you can imagine, iterate, and stick with it long enough to ship.

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What would you build? If you could create any app or tool without needing to write code yourself, what would it be? I’d love to hear your ideas.