This is a good point. I think the need for new programs has actually decreased relative to the overall need for software solutions over the past, say, twenty y

This is a good point. I think the need for new programs has actually decreased relative to the overall need for software solutions over the past, say, twenty years. Between the rise of open source and the fact that lots of software products being built aren't very technically innovative I suspect the relative need for new code has decreased. It's more often about broadly figuring out how best to solve problems. I wouldn't be surprised if, in response to this trend, we see the formalization of a new "product developer" role at startups that is kind of a hybrid engineer / product manager. This person can code perfectly well, but is also scrappy and really good at getting shit done. The Alice character in the story above would fit this role perfectly. These people can drive way too much business value for their role not to become a defined hiring target eventually.