Is 16GB of RAM enough for most software development projects?

Yes, 16GB is the sweet spot for most developers. If you were running out of memory before, upgrading from 8GB to 16GB eliminates swapping and noticeably speeds up builds. But if you already have 16GB, doubling to 32GB won’t help compilation for typical projects — compiling is CPU-bound, not memory-bound. Only massive projects like Android AOSP or 5M+ line enterprise apps benefit from more.