In this article, the author discusses the differences between developer-optimized and operation-centric cloud development environments (CDEs). Developer-optimized CDEs focus on empowering developers to configure their applications themselves, while operation-centric CDEs emphasize configuring infrastructure around the developer environment. The main advantages of developer-optimized CDEs are governance and ownership, as well as performance and security optimization through ephemerality and prebuilds. In contrast, operation-centric CDEs create bottlenecks and hinder self-service due to their complexity and reliance on central teams for template updates. Additionally, advanced optimizations like prebuilds and ephemeral environments are virtually impossible to support in an operation-centric architecture. The author concludes that developer-optimized environments empower developers and enable powerful features, making them the future of cloud development.