New Year, New Momentum: What Developers Can Look Forward to in 2026

Welcome to Building Better Developers, the Developer podcast, where we work on getting better step by step professionally and personally. Let's get started. Well, hello and welcome back and welcome to a new year. It is 2026 as we're doing this. Actually, not as we're doing this as you're listening to this and it is New Year's Day. Once again, you may notice very similar looking places we were right before the new year. In this special episode, we are also with our live studio audience. We're going to pass the mic around again and get a little about this. We're going to get a couple thoughts on what we're looking forward to in 2026. But first, I am Rob Brodhead. I am one of the founders of Development Order, Building Better podcast, the thing that you're listening to right now or that you're watching on YouTube. Also, the founder of RB Consulting, where we help you assess technology and build a roadmap for success. Good things, bad things. Good thing. Part of the RB Consulting corporate empire is we had a Christmas party and great times. We did some VR games and stuff like that. It was really neat. Some people got some people's stomachs better than others, but it was all around a good time. The exception is the bad thing. There was a guy that was a little too enthusiastic about what he did there. He really took a notch out of it, although he's great and loved that he was doing that. It also made it very hard to concentrate and have fun because you had somebody that was telling you the whole time his entire life story and the story of all of the technologies. One person who will not do that or else I will smack them upside the head is Michael, and he'll introduce himself. Hey, everyone. My name is Michael Molloch. I'm one of the co-founders of Developmenter, Building Better Developers. I'm also the founder of Envision3, where we help companies through automated testing, build better software. Good thing, bad thing. Good thing, at the same Christmas party, kind of VR, got to play VR games again. It's been a while. Downside is, when we got done with it, everything was good. I went to pick up a glass and found out my arms were extremely exhausted. How bad. If you play VR too long, your motor skills turn off. And so now on the, I guess, the cusp or whatever it is, starting in at the beginning of 2026, some things to look forward to. What I am looking forward to is payoff, I guess, is lack of a better term. Because as you know, we have been, I've spent most of the last year, maybe the last two years, retooling things, branding, marketing, investing, working on the business. And now I'm ready to see some fruits of those labors and see some things turn around and maybe not turn around, but actually grow and for us to really start to really settle into some of these projects and this new vision and direction we have for the company. Also for developer Noor, because we've sort of niched that down a little bit and changing our focus a bit. And looking forward to seeing that grow as well this year. I'd say you're looking forward to 2026. I'm looking to continue to grow my business. Last year, I had a couple of projects that went pretty well, but now I need to start scaling and start bringing in more business. So I'll be looking forward to doing that. I'm looking at probably going to more business conventions, tech conventions, and get out there and start networking some more. Some other things I'm looking forward to in 2026, I'm hoping to kind of relaunch a couple of our actual teaching episodes. I want to kind of go back, redo or do some new kitchen sink applications or some new videos around and some other new technologies that are coming. Pass this way. Our technician is working on the camera here. Very high tech here. You can see the finger in front of the camera. There we go. Much better. And Wes, go introduce yourself again. And what are you looking forward to? All right. Hey, I'm Wes. I'm one of the programmers for RB Consulting. So what I'm looking forward to is more of a personal thing. My car is getting paid off. First thing next year. It's going to be so nice to not have that car note. As far as like, but let's take a look at more technical and professional settings. There's a couple of projects that RB is working on that we've got some really exciting features that we're starting to build right now. And it's really going to come into the forefront in the first quarter of next year. Then I'm really excited to be working on those and get those and see them pushed out and to the clients, see how they respond to it. Introduce yourself. What are you looking forward to in 26? I am part of the RB team and I am looking forward to a whole new season of change for me. I have a lot of large chapters that are wrapping up and I'm really looking forward to this new season of being able to focus on a new direction and being able to reinvest a significant amount of my time back into RB after I have had all of these chapters closed for me. And I guess I would be, I would be amiss if I don't mention that I am going to be Digital Monomad in 2026, launching another website, RoamingWithRobbie.com. You can always check that out and see our adventures, whatever those happen to be, plus some of the technology that we're building related to that as well. So lots to look forward in 2026. I hope all of you wish the best for each of you. Hopefully you're, you know, at this point you at least haven't given up on your New Year's resolutions yet, considering it's like day one. Let's try to at least get through day two or three. Maybe if you can make it to like day 10, who knows, you've got a shot, but one day at a time we'll get there until the next time where we're going to come back and we are back into our interviews, diving back into building better foundations and season 26 will be wrapping up soon enough and we'll be at 27. And by the time we get around to the end of this year, I guess 28 or 29, we're just cranking on. And I think we will hit episode a thousand for developer, or maybe this week. I think we will be this year. I think we'll hit that, which is like a nice big milestone. Looking forward to that. Looking forward to seeing more of you as you probably are looking forward to seeing less than us, but that's why we have the podcast out there for you. If you just prefer the audio version, that being said, go out there and have yourself a great day, a great week, a great 2026, and we will talk to you next time. Happy New Year's. This was sponsored by RB Consulting, your partner in building smarter, scalable tech from startups to established teams. RB Consulting helps you turn tech chaos into clarity with proven roadmaps and hands-on expertise. Visit rb-sns.com to start your next step forward. Also sponsored by Envision QA, they help businesses take control of their software by focusing on what matters most, quality, reliability, and support you can count on. Find out more at EnvisionQA.com. Thanks for tuning in to the Develop and Rear Podcast, where we're all about building better developers and better careers. I'd love to hear your thoughts or feedback, so drop a note to info at DevelopandRear.com. Be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you listen. And remember, a little bit of effort every day adds up to a great success. Keep learning, keep growing, and we'll see you in the next episode.