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Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

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Re: Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

#71

Post by brothrock »

AI has drastically changed how I make decisions about code and how I code in general. I get less bogged down with boilerplate code and issues, which makes me more efficient and allows me to enjoy architecting more. Additionally, I have found it extremely helpful in writing lower-level code from scratch rather than relying on plug-and-play libraries with questionable support. For example, why use a SQLite abstraction library when I can use LLMs to interact directly with the C source code? Sure it’s more lines of code, but I control everything. I wouldn’t have had the time before. This has also been extremely helpful in embedded systems and low-level Bluetooth.

In terms of hiring- I co-own a small consultancy. I just hired a sub to help me while on parental leave with some UI work. AI isn’t going to help my team integrate, deploy, or make informed decision while I’m out.

Side note, with a newborn (sleeping on me at this moment), I can make real meaningful edits to my codebase pretty much on my phone. Then review, test, integrate when I have the time. It’s amazing, but I still feel you have to know what you are doing, and I am selective on what tasks, and how to split them up. I also throw away a lot of generated code, same as I throw away a lot of my first iterations, it’s all part of the process.

I think saying “AI is going X% of my work” is the wrong attitude. I’m still doing work when I use AI, it’s just different. That statement kind of assumes you are blindly shipping robot code, which sounds horrible and zero fun.

Re: Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

#73

Post by hoherd »

sublinear wrote: post #60
beambot wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't use any AI - drafting documentation, write boilerplate code, transcribing meetings, simplifying team communications, searching product documentation, alternative to Google or StackOverflow, creating presentations, as a brainstorming partner? I would consider all of these "work". If you say AI does 0% of your work, I'd say you're either a genius, behind the curve or being disingenuous.

Are you saying everyone who isn't barely starting their career is a genius? In the current state of things I'd gladly take mediocre work from a human over slop from an AI.

Seriously this. Doing code reviews on LLM created code is so frustrating. If the code was submitted by a junior engineer I could get on zoom with them and educate them, which would make them a better team mate, advance their career goals, and make the world slightly better. With AI created code the review process is a series of tiny struggles to dig up out of the hole the LLM created and get back to baseline code quality, and it'll probably be the same Sisyphean struggle with the next PR.

Re: Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

#74

Post by pbastos »

englishrookie wrote: post #59
ai_assisted_dev wrote: post #52

I have been in software for 20 years, and was just about to quit 2-3 years ago because of how mundane things became. And now I am actually loving it again because of AI. I'd say, AI writes 95% of my code, and I use it for 75% of the decisions during working on a project. I am under MUCH more pressure to deliver more in shorter periods of time, with just me involved in several layers of decision making, rather than ha…

Would you mind sharing your setup (LLM model, IDE, best practices)? Personally, I'm struggling to get value out of Continue.dev in VSCode (using Gemini 2.0 Flash by default, with the option to switch to more advanced models). I still revert to pasting code into ChatGPT chat window (using the website), frequently. Are you using agentic features, given that you have not just one but two PMs?

  Not OP, but regarding your situation, I suggest moving to an agentic solution instead of “copy-pasting to GPT” — this will boost your coding productivity. There are several tools available, and to each their own, but try out Claude Code.

Re: Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

#75

Post by SlightlyLeftPad »

Pretty pessimistic frankly. Management at all levels pushing for nearshoring SWE labor, meanwhile we’re training AI as a long term solution to fill the skill gap in the same nearshore labor. We were hired to be smart people and it’s frankly an insult to gaslight us into believing that it’s simply because it makes us more productive. Of course there’s a push for it with the intent to replace us. Why else would it be forced down our throats?

I’m looking for a way out of tech because of it.

Re: Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

#76

Post by roarcher »

I recently used Claude to help me understand a math-dense research paper. It was useful for answering general questions about the structure of the algorithm, where to find information in the paper, and gain a high level/intuitive understanding of how the algorithm worked. It was absolutely abysmal at implementing the code, and would regularly make things up when I probed it about subtleties in the math.

Overall, it sped up my learning greatly, but I had to verify everything it said and its code was a mess. It's a useful tool when used appropriately but it's not threatening my job anytime soon.

Re: Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

#77

Post by freilanzer »

roarcher wrote: post #76

I recently used Claude to help me understand a math-dense research paper. It was useful for answering general questions about the structure of the algorithm, where to find information in the paper, and gain a high level/intuitive understanding of how the algorithm worked. It was absolutely abysmal at implementing the code, and would regularly make things up when I probed it about subtleties in the math. Overall, it s…

> I had to verify everything it said

Letting it condense something like a paper and checking it afterwards might be a good learning exercise.

Re: Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

#78

Post by antisol »

hoherd wrote: post #73
sublinear wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying everyone who isn't barely starting their career is a genius? In the current state of things I'd gladly take mediocre work from a human over slop from an AI.

Seriously this. Doing code reviews on LLM created code is so frustrating. If the code was submitted by a junior engineer I could get on zoom with them and educate them, which would make them a better team mate, advance their career goals, and make the world slightly better. With AI created code the review process is a series of tiny struggles to dig up out of the hole the LLM created and get back to baseline code qua…

Ha! Not just "the next PR", in my experience about 30% of the time you tell it "hey this slop you gave me is horribly broken because ", and it says "you're absolutely right! I totally 100% understand the problem now, and I'll totally 100% fix that for you right now!", and then proceeds to deliver exactly the same broken slop it game me before.

Re: Ask HN: With all the AI hype, how are software engineers feeling?

#80

Post by nicbou »

I am a former software engineer. Now I run a website that helps people settle in Germany.

Google AI summaries and ChatGPT have almost halved my traffic. They are a scourge on informational websites, parasites.

It’s depressing to see the independent web being strangled like that. It’s only a matter of time before they become the entire internet for many, and then the enshittification will be more brutal than anything before it.

I will be fine, but I have to divert 6-10 months on my life to damage control[0] instead of working on what matters to my audience. That happened by chance; other websites won’t be so lucky.

So yeah, morale is low. It feels like a brazen consolidation play by big tech, in all aspects of our lives.

On the bright side, it does make coding a bit easier. It spits out small bits of code and saves me a lot of API docs round trips. I can focus on business logic instead of basic code. AI is also a phenomenal writing tool. I use it for trying different phrasing options, reverse word and express search, and translation nuances. It does enable me in that way.

[0] https://nicolasbouliane.com/blog/health-insurance

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