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Ask HN: AI productivity gains – do you fire devs or build better products?

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Re: Ask HN: AI productivity gains – do you fire devs or build better products?

#11

Post by thefounder »

lordkrandel wrote: post #4

Why do people keep ralking about AI as it actually worked? I still don't see ANY proof that it doesn't generate a total unmaintainable unsecure mess, that since you didn't develop, you don't know how to fix. Like running a F1 Ferrari on a countryside road: useless and dangerous

You can launch a new product in one month instead of 12 months. I think this works best for startups where the risk tolerance is high but works less than ideal for companies such Amazon where system failure has high costs

Re: Ask HN: AI productivity gains – do you fire devs or build better products?

#13

Post by conartist6 »

conartist6 wrote: post #12

Gotta fire everyone, or else "too many cooks" will mean that even those temporary productivity gains go up in smoke. Remember sometimes the most productive thing to have is not money or people but time with your ideas.

What's so sad to see is people excited about making something selling away the time they would have with their ideas. They're paying money to not use their brain to contemplate the thing they should be the foremost expert in the world on, and they're excited to be paying more and more for each modicum of ignorance and mediocrity dispensed.

Re: Ask HN: AI productivity gains – do you fire devs or build better products?

#14

Post by dominotw »

thefounder wrote: post #11
lordkrandel wrote: post #4

Why do people keep ralking about AI as it actually worked? I still don't see ANY proof that it doesn't generate a total unmaintainable unsecure mess, that since you didn't develop, you don't know how to fix. Like running a F1 Ferrari on a countryside road: useless and dangerous

You can launch a new product in one month instead of 12 months. I think this works best for startups where the risk tolerance is high but works less than ideal for companies such Amazon where system failure has high costs

so where are these one man products lauched in a month?

not talking about toys or vibecoded crap no one uses.

Re: Ask HN: AI productivity gains – do you fire devs or build better products?

#16

Post by jaen »

That's assuming every developer can get the same AI efficiency boost and contribute meaningfully to any feature, which is unfortunately not really the case.

Seniors can adjust, but eg. junior frontend-only devs might be doomed in both situations, as they might not be able to contribute enough to business-critical features to justify their costs and most frontend-related tasks will be taken over by the "10x" seniors.

Re: Ask HN: AI productivity gains – do you fire devs or build better products?

#17

Post by muzani »

aurareturn wrote: post #2

In certain industries, increasing productivity by 90% does not mean 90% increase in profit. This is because growth depends on market TAM and growth rate. Another way of increasing profit is to simply reduce your headcount by 90% while keeping the same profit.* Hence, I think some companies will keep downsizing. Some companies will hire. It depends a lot. *Assuming 90% productivity increase.

In companies like the oil industry, doubling productivity would mean reducing the expected life span. Costs tend to catch up with profits, especially due to taxes. Layoffs happen inevitably.

Is it the same with tech? Facebook has 3 billion monthly active users. No amount of tech will bring that up to 6 billion. If you were to double the amount of time someone spends on Facebook, or double the ads they see or double the click through rate, what does that really mean?

Re: Ask HN: AI productivity gains – do you fire devs or build better products?

#19

Post by giantg2 »

lordkrandel wrote: post #4

Why do people keep ralking about AI as it actually worked? I still don't see ANY proof that it doesn't generate a total unmaintainable unsecure mess, that since you didn't develop, you don't know how to fix. Like running a F1 Ferrari on a countryside road: useless and dangerous

I see more value on the business side than the tech side. Ask the AI to transcribe images, write an email, parse some excel data, create a prototype, etc. Some of which you might have hired a tech resource to write a script for.

On the tech side I see it saving some time with stuff like mock data creation, writing boiler plate, etc. You still have to review it like it's a junior. You still have to think about the requirements and design to provide a detailed understanding to them (AI or junior).

I don't think either of these will provide 90% productivity gains. Maybe 25-50% depending on the job.

Re: Ask HN: AI productivity gains – do you fire devs or build better products?

#20

Post by fragmede »

dominotw wrote: post #14
thefounder wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can launch a new product in one month instead of 12 months. I think this works best for startups where the risk tolerance is high but works less than ideal for companies such Amazon where system failure has high costs

so where are these one man products lauched in a month? not talking about toys or vibecoded crap no one uses.

Aside from the things people have launched that don't count because I'm right, where are the things that have been launched?
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