Hiring managers aren't looking for scaffolders anymore; they're looking for problem solvers. If you can dive into a messy, pre-existing codebase and debug a production issue that AI can't wrap its head around, you've already won.
Well said. Being a "code archaeologist"—digging through old, messy files and figuring out why they’re breaking—is a superpower in 2026. Anyone can start a project; very few can fix a dying one.