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The Generative Software Engineer

Mastering Human Software Practices in an AI World

The Generative Software Engineer
This book is 10% completeLast updated on 2026-08-27

AI has entered the programming picture, let's learn how to be humans working with AI to build better software, together.

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About

About

About the Book

AI is inescapable in the software workplace. It has made its way in through everything from autocomplete to dedicated coding agents and it feels like it does everything. As AI becomes ever more prominent in the workplace, it is the humans who drive initiatives and guide AI. Interacting with AI is a skill, and a human one at that. The Generative Software Engineer takes a look past technical implementation and explores what it means to be a human in software development who works with AI.

Come along as we look at the human practices that make up software built along side generative AI. Discover where people fit in the new work balance and how the advent of generative AI in the workplace pushes human workers into a space where they do more knowledge work, not less.

Author

About the Author

Chris Stead

Chris Stead is a seasoned software engineer, having spent the better part of 25 years crafting software by hand and with AI assistance. He is currently working as a programmer in a programming ensemble, sharing expertise with his colleagues. Chris was the author of JS Refactor, the first JavaScript refactoring tool available for Visual Studio Code. He has also built, and contributed to a variety of other open source projects.

Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The New Mindset

  1. Two Modes of Thinking
  2. AI Changes the Balance
  3. The Danger: System 2 Bypass
  4. Externalizing Thought
  5. Spec-First Development
  6. Waking Up System 2
  7. A New Division of Labor

Chapter 2: Context Engineering

  1. Primary Hazards
  2. Structuring Context
  3. Domain Driven Context
  4. Managing Attention Budget and Ingestion
  5. Conclusion

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