Historic Days

2026 is here.

It has been a crazy season for me, and I have not shared much here and on social media lately like I normally do.

But here is a thought I believe can make a difference:

A Line That Hit Different

A few weeks ago, I was rewatching all Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies with my wife, and a line from Dumbledore hit me differently than it ever had before. I've watched this movie dozens of times, but never quite noticed this one. He said:

"Funny how historic days feel ordinary when you're living them."

That quote has stayed with me since and I've put a great deal of thought into it.

Because from a technology and industry perspective, I genuinely believe we are living through historic days right now. Not someday. Not in hindsight. Right now.

Most of the time, people only realize that later.

But knowing ahead of time that we are in the middle of historic change alters how we do things. It changes urgency. It changes ownership. It changes whether we are just completing tasks or actually shaping outcomes.

There is a difference between realizing later that you lived through historic days and choosing now to help make those days historic.

The Reality of This Moment

And I want to be honest about the moment we are in.

This is a hard season for a lot of people in tech. The market has shifted. Expectations have changed. The career paths that once felt predictable no longer are. That uncertainty is real, and it affects real lives.

But here is what has not changed.

Problems are not going anywhere. People still need better tools. Organizations still need meaningful products. Users still need people who deeply care about solving real problems.

What is changing is how we solve them.

Over the next three to five years, the tools will look completely different. AI will reshape workflows. Roles will blur. The way we build products will continue to evolve rapidly. Then, over the next five to ten years, the tools will look completely different again.

The Mindset That Matters Most

But the mindset that matters most has not changed.

The desire to master your craft. The willingness to learn beyond one narrow specialty. The ability to step into ambiguity and still create value. The commitment to build things that actually make a difference for real people.

If anything, this moment demands more product engineers, not fewer. Engineers who care about users, not just systems. Engineers who think in outcomes, not just implementations. Engineers who can use a broad set of tools, including AI, to create impact, not just output.

What Leaders Are Looking For

I have spoken with engineering leaders across the industry, and they all say some version of the same thing: They can find people who know specific technologies. What they struggle to find are people who can come in and truly make a difference.

For a long time, many of us were spoiled by the market. If you knew the right stack and could solve a certain type of problem, a high paying job was almost guaranteed.

Now that is changing.

Now the opportunity is to go further. To show impact not just in code, but on teams, products, and organizations. To build breadth. To adapt. To learn how to use powerful new tools responsibly and creatively. To be known not only for what you know, but for the value you create.

I don't see this as a loss, but as an invitation.

Choosing to Shape History

If we recognize now that these are historic days, we do not have to be passive recipients of change. We can be agents. We can be creators. We can shape what "historic" actually means for our careers, our teams, and the people we work with and for.

And years from now, when we look back, we will not just say, "A lot has happened." We will be able to say that "I helped make something historic and extraordinary happen."