Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#321

Post by YeGoblynQueenne » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

>> The problem? Every compound interest calculator online is terrible. Ugly interfaces, ads covering half the screen, can't customize compounding frequency properly, no year-by-year breakdowns. I've tried so many. They all suck.

While you can't do anything about (other peoples') interfaces, you can absolutely do something for ads. You can install an ad-blocker on your browser. This is not just for you, OP, it's for everyone: get an ad blocker. Your experience of the internet will be radically changed.

I am reminded of this anytime I sit at someone else's computer who doesn't have an ad blocker, or whenever I see internet conversations complaining about ads; I wonder "what ads"? Then I remember: the ads I'm blocking.

So do yourself a big, warm, fuzzy favour and make the internet better for you. Block ads today.

Choose your own ad blocker, obviously.

What, you thought this was an ad for a specific ad blocker, didn't you? Nah, any one will do. Just block bloody ads.

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#322

Post by rugun » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

lrvick wrote: post #191

By contrast, the moment I am no longer able to compete with AI users, is the moment I quit the industry. I have no interest in outsourcing my thinking. Thankfully LLMs are still very stupid. Especially when it comes to security engineering, my specialty, so looks like I have a while yet.

They are stupid when it comes to everyone’s specialty. Some level of ignorance around what you’re doing is a prerequisite of feeling like AI is a good tool (and is usually the exact wrong scenario to use AI as well, to boot).

It’s like using a poorly made steel adjustable wrench. People who know how to use it will low-key hate it (but still maybe find it better than no tool at all), whereas people just using it to smash things because heavy will think it’s pretty much the perfect tool.

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#323

Post by sodapopcan » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC

brushfoot wrote: post #168

It's a shame to find an AI-written ad so highly upvoted here. The author even insists that AI was used because of their poor English, which is the standard excuse on Reddit as well. But clearly, this is not a translation: > Curious if others have similar stories. Anyone else come back to building after stepping away? This is bog-standard AI slop to increase engagement. Look at the blog on their linked site as well. A…

Why would flagging be inappropriate?

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#324

Post by matwood » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC

closewith wrote: post #252

latexr wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re failing to understand the complaint is about the hollow term being used to sound grandiose. A street sweeper “delivers value” in the form of a clean street. A lunch lady at a school “delivers solutions” in the form of reducing hunger in children. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do something for others, the criticism is of the vague terminology. The marketing speak. I’ve said that so many times, I’d hope…

> You’re failing to understand the complaint is about the hollow term being used to sound grandiose. This isn’t a critique of language - it’s a category error. You’re confusing the mechanism with the purpose. In your examples, a street sweeper or lunch lady (Google says this is an antiquated US term for canteen worker?) do indeed deliver value, clean streets and nourished students. That's the value they're paid to pr…

> Writing code is one means among many for achieving an outcome, and if the same outcome could be achieved by the business without software, the software would be dropped instantly. Not because care doesn’t matter, but because the purpose was never the code itself.

Early in my career I was called in a number of times to write software for some business process. Many times after talking to the users and understanding the process, I would recommend against any software. It wasn't needed, or the time could be spent in better ways (AI is likely changing that calculation though). IIRC, my title was even 'Solutions Provider' or some such. I love writing software, but it's always been a means to an end for me.

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#325

Post by agentultra » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:37 PM UTC

Sorry for yucking into everyone's yum here but... did we miss an opportunity here as programmers to provide simpler tools for people to build simple applications for themselves?

Since when did "average" people have time to set up a CI pipeline, agents, MCPs, and all the rest needed to get vibe coded apps to work become the "simple" way for non-programmers to use computers to mush some data together for their small businesses and neighbors and stuff?

Did spreadsheets, embedded databases, and visual form builders stop working or are lacking in some way?

Or are posts like this astro-turfing LLM posts from companies selling rent to build apps for non-tech folks?

Again, apologize for sounding cynical but it's so hard telling what is genuine these days and I'm genuinely curious how farmers found the time to set up this stuff instead of just using a spreadsheet and a few macros.

If LLMs are covering a gap here maybe there's an opportunity for better, local, lower-tech tooling that doesn't require such a huge tech stack (and subscriptions/rent) to solve simple, tractable problems?

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#326

Post by fantasizr » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:38 PM UTC

fourside wrote: post #264

> Stack: Next.js, React, TailwindCSS, shadcn/ui, four languages (EN/DE/FR/JA). The AI picked most of this when I said "modern and clean." I’m not an AI hater but I do see this as evidence of LLMs being susceptible to chasing trends as much as people. Next.js with server rendered React is not a stack that an experienced web developer would have recommended for a “clean” solution to a collection of financial calculator…

vibe coding so far has really homogenized the tech stacks by the self promoters. Vercel is printing money off this phenomenon that's a self fulfilling snowball. But stack diversity is good, not everything needs to be js/ts

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#327

Post by Kapura » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:40 PM UTC

agentultra wrote: post #325

Sorry for yucking into everyone's yum here but... did we miss an opportunity here as programmers to provide simpler tools for people to build simple applications for themselves? Since when did "average" people have time to set up a CI pipeline, agents, MCPs, and all the rest needed to get vibe coded apps to work become the "simple" way for non-programmers to use computers to mush some data together for their small bu…

There was never any money in making tools that allow people to make their own applications. There is only money in walling people into your garden, forcing them to use all of the decaying or enshittified tools in your ecosystem.

There actually still isn't any money in LLM, but we're in the "cheap ubers" era where everything is subsidized by capital that has congealed thanks to economic deregulation in the 80s. Yay, capitalism.

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#328

Post by amunozo » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:40 PM UTC

snarfy wrote: post #281

abalashov wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the plus side, vibe coding disaster remediation looks to be a promising revenue stream in the near future, and I am rubbing my hands together eagerly as I ponder the filthy lucre.

Yes, I immediately see the need for the opposite - perfect, accurate, proven bug free software. As long as there is AI there will be AI slop.

Well, there is no perfect, accurate, proven bug free software even before AI. Maybe the problem is not AI but economical incentives and lack of care.

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#329

Post by NewsaHackO » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:41 PM UTC

forgotpwd16 wrote: post #87

jackfranklyn wrote: post #83

[flagged]

>That's not about AI replacing developers - it's about unlocking latent capability in people who already understand the problem space. Feel like forums have turned into a grand Turing Test.

Honestly, I feel as though LLMs have actually changed the way we write posts, especially if a person uses them a lot. For instance, I cannot imagine why someone would use an LLM to reply to a random post, and that sentence does read more like a mix of LLM and human writing.

Re: Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back

#330

Post by jakewindle47 » Mon, Jan 19, 2026, 3:44 PM UTC

LLMs have sucked all of the joy out of software engineering for me, and I've been doing it for 12 years.

As others have pointed out, I'm looking at a career shift now. I'm essentially burning out on doing the whole LLM-assisted coding stuff while I still can, earning money on contracts, and then going to step away from the field. I'm lucky that I'm in a position to do so, but I really don't know what the rest of my career looks like.