[davidcelis]

> Sure, we're all more productive now, but…

I’ve been trying to ask people a different question: sure, we’re more productive now but to me, the AI era is only serving to plunge us deeper than ever into producing more, more, more, faster, faster, faster. And for what? What’s it all for? I became a software engineer because I have a lot of fun writing code, thinking through and solving complicated problems, and experiencing the reward of seeing what I’ve built by hand working for the first time.

Do people really have fun managing a fleet of agents that generate the code instead? Or is it just the rush of producing something extremely quickly, much more quickly than you might be able to alone, regardless of how well (or poorly) it might work? For me, being able to move quickly was never the fun part.

It’s one thing to utilize AI to lessen the drudgework, the boilerplate, but I look at people who have gone all in on agentic development and it just really makes me wonder.

[maplethorpe]

> I’ve been trying to ask people a different question: sure, we’re more productive now but to me, the AI era is only serving to plunge us deeper than ever into producing more, more, more, faster, faster, faster. And for what? What’s it all for?

Many devs here have stated that the fun part for them is seeing the end product, not the act of creating it. Using AI is an act of need satisfaction.

Unfortunately, cloning a GitHub repository or downloading a Squarespace template doesn't hit the spot, because you can see exactly where the code came from, so your brain knows you were not the one responsible. AI's greatest feature is that it obfuscates provenance. You can now happily clone that repository or download that template without the feeling that you're cloning someone else's repository or downloading someone else's template.

[dorgo]

> AI's greatest feature is that it obfuscates provenance.

maybe because people see AI not just as a clever packet manager, but also, to some degree, as a problem solving engine. Similar to humans.

[bsoles]

It is why I feel dirty after AI generates a piece of clever code: I know I am stealing somebody's IP without attribution. And the AI companies benefit from this, not the real people behind the training data.

[theturtletalks]

2 types of people:

People who use coding as a means to an end, producing a product

People who enjoy process over product and coding is the enjoyable part, not the end product

Company executives fall into bucket 1. Even if you love your cushy air-conditioned job, doesn’t mean the people above you don’t see you as a means to an end, a better product.

Solo founders and small startups are in bucket 1 as well but that doesn’t mean that don’t enjoy coding, just the product being made is much more satisfying.

[DrewADesign]

I think that’s a false dichotomy. I enjoyed coding but was more interested in the problems code could solve. Both were really important facets of the job. When I was a chef, I loved being creative with flavors and techniques, and giving people a new favorite aesthetic memory to file away. Losing one of those things would make the job not worth it to me even though I enjoyed both.

[theturtletalks]

Great point. I learned to code to solve a problem and fell into love with programming as much as the product building. Now the first part is gone and I’m forced to decide which was more enjoyable.

I do think food is a bit different. With software and businesses, the end product keeps on giving and can be forever changed. For food, the process is many times longer than the actual eating the food part.

[pydry]

The difference is about slop tolerance not "process over product".

[theturtletalks]

Brother, there was slop before AI and slop after AI.

Pre-AI slop got a pass because the creator probably worked tirelessly to make it and that process gave it value.

Post-AI slop get criticized because AI can create it so fast and easily.

But the builder has not changed. Because the builder knows that the product depends on iteration and polish. And knowing what to iterate and what to polish requires intuition and taste. And thats the thing about taste, its forever fleeting. What we think is AI slop, was actually novel and coveted at a point before AI existed.

[pydry]

Yea, you can create code slop much quicker these days. That much is true.

Whether the demand will match the supply is still an open question. Did the apple app store need another 4,000 to do apps? I guess we'll see.

[tossandthrow]

I use Ai to remove large amounts of code from our code base. Do refactorings that would not have made business sense before.

I also use Ai to be more ambitious. Online evaluation for our in app flows instead of offline.

So for us the entire quality of the product has been increased a lot.

[LtWorf]

Many developers became developers because of the paycheck, but they never particularly enjoyed the job, so if instead of working they can twiddle their thumbs waiting for the agent to make attempts at fixing their ticket, they prefer it that way.

[bsoles]

I can clearly identify this kind of developers at work by their mindless enthusiasm for AI. Development is just another job before they can move into "management" and make all-knowing statements all day long.

[LtWorf]

*ask AI to write all-knowing statements for them :D

[jjav]

> producing more, more, more, faster, faster, faster. And for what? What’s it all for?

If you wanted a literal answer, it is to accelerate revenue as much as possible to make the very rich people who own most of the company even unfathomably richer. No benefit to you for making more faster. Other than the burnout, that's all for you to enjoy.