“Coding” is becoming a commodity

“What programming language should I learn?” That famous question every “coding-curious” person has asked at least once.

Just 2 years ago, the answer might be something like “the programming language used is not relevant, you have to understand the underlying concepts of software engineering” (you are probably talking to a software engineer) or “you working with data? go with python!” (you are probably talking to a data scientist).

The answer today is: English. Learn English. (or any language you already speak).

“Coding” is rapidly becoming a commodity. When operating in an AI-powered VS code or directly in Claude Code, the limiting factor is just your ability to express as precisely as possible what you want in the natural language you speak. By “speak” I also mean dictate into your microphone. And then iterate on your steps. Your AI agents (plural) do the rest. December 2025 is the moment we can mark in our calendars when this shift truly happened.

This paradigm shift even justifies a paragraph on the Natural Language Programming Wikipedia page.

It’s very similar to the way translation software works. We have reached an amazing level of precision in text-to-text translations – and we are completely used to it.

Take DeepL as an example. Being tri-lingual, I often try to test the output based on an input I know the meaning of, and time and time again I am amazed that the software even captures some subtle meaning that is far removed from simple line by line, word by word translations.

But still – it has become a commodity. We are so used to it and its quality output that we use it casually, hidden within browser extension, just one click away from understanding any foreign language.

LLMs have become so precise in translating your natural language input into the appropriate code syntax that learning a new (programming) language is a valiant effort, but not a necessary one. It has the same benefits as learning a new (natural) language – it makes you smarter, believe it or not – but beyond that you will be able to navigate the complicated world of coding pretty easily. Just as you would be able to navigate with Google Translate through your next holiday in Thailand.

The question today is not really about code. It’s about whether you can think precisely enough to tell a machine what you want.

AI didn’t just lower that bar – it blew open the door and removed the secondary skill of learning a programming language completely. And we are getting used to it faster than we realise.

And a small PS: note that I write explicitly about coding. I am not talking about the engineering side of software. That’s for another time.