A Developer owns one product end to end. A Master Developer owns the ground that products stand on, and can launch a product into production with AI agents doing much of the building.
What changes
| Developer | Master Developer |
|---|---|
| Plans one product | Plans across products and shared parts |
| Uses tools others chose | Chooses tools with evidence and records why |
| Ships to a test site | Launches to production safely |
| Steers an agent on one milestone | Orchestrates several agents across repos |
The five ideas
- The platform. The shared ground every product stands on. Read.
- The open-source-first ladder. How to choose between search, use, patch and build. Read.
- Licences. How to check them and avoid traps. Read.
- Patch sets and forks. How to adopt a tool and keep your changes small. Read.
- Everything as code, GitOps and drift. How to run systems from git. Read.
- Service management in git. Change records, incidents and service levels. Read.
The rules do not change
You still write your epics yourself. AI may build manifests, scripts and drafts after you decide. You disclose AI use. Every decision and risk carries a human name.
What you can do at the end
- Name the parts of a delivery platform and say what each one is for.
- Pick a tool with a scorecard, a fit score and a licence check, and write the decision down.
- Explain what drift is and close it with a change in git.
- Write a change record and an incident review.
- Run a small production launch where every step is in git.
How you are assessed
Four gates, a final exam, a practical project and an oral review. See Master Developer assessment.
Note on honesty
Every claim about a system must be marked built, partial or planned. Nothing planned may be called running. A gap you can name is a gap you can plan.
