I doubt that. Almost every app out there uses at least 200MB of memory. I would say 16GB is a sweet for casual users. 32 a minimum for devs/tech people and 64 an optimum if you happen to be using a lot of k8s/docker stuff.
8gb might be okay for casual use on M1, given the higher memory bandwidth... but for Software dev, spot on. I've got 128gb in my desktop, and have gone over 64gb only once or twice with a lot of data loaded.