[conductr]

If programming is woodworking, using AI is ikea assembly except they packed most the wrong parts in the box so I have to deal with customer service to go back and forth to get the right parts and the hardware parts don’t always function as intended leaving me to find my own.

It’s a different, less enjoyable, type of work in my opinion.

[RamtinJ95]

This analogy is inaccurate and spreading it just plays into the hands of those trying to press down SWE salaries and their importance. A better analogy is that previously we had a hand saw, now we have one of those automatic ones which speeds up some processes a lot but cant be used everywhere in every situation.

[muzani]

I think both are correct and reflect people's situations at work. Some are doing the ikea thing, some are doing the automatic saws, and some are using the automatic saws to make the ikea things for someone else.

It's also why the opinions are so heated on this. There's many forms of management, and some play way better with the AI tools than others. Some people are doing the assembly line jobs and some are doing code ninja jobs. Some are actually doing engineering, and some are code monkeys who are paid the same range as the engineers and using the same tools.

[conductr]

It just is what it is. I hadn't contemplated SWE salaries at all with that comment. However, now I would love to see your argument for why SWE salaries should continue to be propped up as one of the highest paid professions? In a world where productivity gets a >10x boost and the barriers to entry get so low.

Logging is absolutely less labor intensive since the invention of the motorized chainsaw and other heavy equipment. A look at farming and other construction jobs is probably similar to what will happen with SWE in the long-term. With better tools and access to information, a ton of people can DIY a majority of things. There will still be jobs for pros to build the skyscrapers and other non-DIY friendly things. But, what developers can charge and what people are willing to pay will most likely change due to some of these technologies.

[1718627440]

It is accurate except that they never send all the parts so you need to create some yourself and then most of the sent parts don't fit either, so you end up creating most yourself.

[000ooo000]

This analogy really hammers home how ridiculous it is to put 'vibe coding' or 'prompt engineering' in the same camp as software development. Imagine telling fellow woodworkers about your latest work and how Ikea built it for you, with a straight face.

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

> Imagine telling fellow woodworkers about your latest work and how Ikea built it for you, with a straight face.

I mean, if someone goes to Ikea but can't get it to build a working cabinet (with functioning and practical locks...), then perhaps the ability to do that is something to brag about.

[D13Fd]

Plus the item you build may not be exactly what you initially requested, and you'll have to decide whether it's something you are willing to accept.

[yomismoaqui]

Better woodworking analogy:

If manual coding is a saw, using agentic AI coding is a table saw.

It can make some work faster but there are still things done better with a manual saw. And if you don't learn how to use it well you can lose some fingers.

[krapp]

This analogy doesn't work because with a table saw you still decide where to cut.

The AI picks the wood, decides where and how to cut, and builds the table, and sometimes it decides the square table you told it to build has five legs. But you still call yourself a carpenter either way.

[butlike]

> It’s a different, less enjoyable, type of work

This is an elegant way of putting it. I like it