Many developers grapple with a profound sense of unease in the world of programming. It often feels like one must reinvent the wheel to feel truly needed or valuable in society. Yet, upon closer inspection, all code and tools are built upon libraries and frameworks created by others—clever minds who have pushed technology to its limits. Over time, these foundations become so reliable that few touch them, except for those rare innovators who refine and evolve them further.

This realization can lead to confusion: Are we merely assemblers of others’ work? Is true independence an illusion in a society that thrives on interconnectedness? Everything depends on something—hardware, operating systems, compilers—even low-level languages like Assembly, which offer raw control but still rely on underlying architectures designed by predecessors.

The paradox is that this dependency is not a weakness; it’s the engine of progress. Collaboration accelerates innovation. Attempting to code HTTP requests from scratch without libraries like libcurl or requests would be arduous, though technically possible with raw sockets in Assembly. But why endure that when we can leverage existing tools to focus on higher-level goals?

The path forward lies in setting clear objectives, utilizing available tools to achieve them, and then iterating to improve those tools for future generations. This cycle is how society advances. In fields like WordPress automation, for example, developers use APIs and scripts to solve practical problems—running diagnostics, logging data—without disrupting servers. True usefulness comes from impact, not from shunning dependencies. Many successful developers began by modifying existing code and contributing back through open-source pull requests or bug fixes. It’s a collaborative ladder, not a solitary ascent.

Embracing this mindset turns potential frustration into empowerment. By building on the shoulders of giants, we contribute to a collective legacy, one line of code at a time.