The post makes some good points. As a programmer I love writing code. I know coding is just a tool but I enjoy the act of thinking about a problem, finding a solution and implementing it. It gives me a little dopamine boost.
Ever since LLMs started writing decent code, I started feeling like a part of that joy of code-writing has been taken away.
Using LLMs literally leaves a developer to do (what I find is) the worst part about software development: debugging someone else’s code.
Besides this, everything feels rushed. I am under the impression that I can’t “take my time” to think about a problem anymore. It almost feels wasteful now. I have to “just do it”.
It makes me nostalgic and I feel like I’ve lost something about coding that made me enjoy it.
But it is the reality we live in and I’m adapting to it. What I’m wondering is whether I should adapt or, rather, push back.
That being said: this feels a little like it was written using AI.
>Ever since LLMs started writing decent code, I started feeling like a part of that joy of code-writing has been taken away.
The SWEs that go all-in on AI will never understand this, because they have never enjoyed the joy of code-writing. I would even go as far as saying that many of them even hate it.
Of this group, I think the majority are the same people that have joined the industry not because of an innate love for engineering, but because they saw an opportunity to make big bucks in big tech.
> I am under the impression that I can’t “take my time” to think about a problem anymore. It almost feels wasteful now. I have to “just do it”.
This exactly, has been the problem in cultures that have produced broken, lower quality things in general. Don't think deeply about the problem and don't think about the long term consequences. Just grab whatever solution gives some immediate solution the fastest. "Jugaar."
Many people are slipping into this culture now with the new pressure for immediate production pushed by the AI crowd. It's "jugaar." It's trading short term gain for long term breakage, chaos, and pain. It's also social and economic pressure to not do things properly.
Those who want to take the time time to really understand things, or to build things correctly are mocked or punished for being slow and simple minded. "Just do it this way, look everyone is doing it and making more money faster!" This is also part of that culture that drags everyone into jugaar.
I empathize with all of the above, but ive honestly felt that way more or less the moment I went from “programmer” to “founder” (I run a small startup since 2021, so a couple years before “agentic programming”). At some point I accepted this as the cost of working at a higher level of abstraction (and getting more done as a result, whether via a human employee or an LLM doing the work I used to do).
I know older devs that reminisce for the days of programming straight to the metal in assembly (e.g. on DOS or Amiga) and “knowing exactly what the computer is doing” which feels somehow familiar!
Even more familiar are senior devs moving to management (I know this isnt an original metaphor).
I see it the other way, I can do whatever creative and fun stuff I like, and the agent does the boring debugging or finishing up my loose ends.