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AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

praf.me

101–110 of 262 posts

Re: AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is quite the defeatist attitude. Society becoming shittier isn’t inevitable, though inaction and giving up certainly helps that along. The hypothetical that we're 8x as productive but the work isn't as fun isn't "society becoming shittier".

How is everyone working shitty jobs not "society becoming shittier"? Seems pretty awful

"Society" is more than just software developers.

We are very well paid for very cushy work. It's not good for anyone's work to get worse, but it's not a huge hit to society if a well-paid cushy job gets less cushy.

And presumably people buy our work because it's valuable to them. Multiplying that by 8 would be a pretty big benefit to society.

I don't want my job to get less fun, but I would press that button without hesitation. It would be an incredible trade for society at large.

Re: AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To be more exact, 90% of the _code_ I write is mostly just different types of API glue I assumed you were only talking about the actual code. It still seems really odd. Why is there so much unavoidable boilerplate?

Because I need to have a controller that does CRUD operations. It has a specific amount of code I need to write just to add the basic boilerplate of receiving the data and returning a result from the endpoint before I can get to the meat of it. IIRC there are no languages where I can just open an empty file and write "put: " and it magically knows how to handle everything correctly.

Does the "" part involve a bunch of irreducible boilerplate too or something? What's it like?

If it doesn't, then I feel like even in the JavaScript world of 2015 you could write "app.put("/mypath", business_logic)" and that would do the trick, and that was a very immature language ecosystem.

Re: AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

#103
post #30

The tradeoff of higher velocity for less enjoyment may feel less welcome when it becomes the new baseline and the expectation of employers / customers. The excitement of getting a day's work done in an hour* (for example) is likely to fade once the expectation is to produce 8 of such old-days output per day. I suspect it doesn't matter how we feel about it mind you. If it's going to happen it will, whether we enjoy t…

For the longest time, IT workers were 'protected' from Marx's alienation of labor by the rarity of your skill, but now it's coming for you/us, too. Claude Code is to programmers what textile machines were to textile workers.

>In the capitalist mode of production, the generation of products (goods and services) is accomplished with an endless sequence of discrete, repetitive motions that offer the worker little psychological satisfaction for "a job well done." By means of commodification, the labour power of the worker is reduced to wages (an exchange value); the psychological estrangement (Entfremdung) of the worker results from the unmediated relation between his productive labour and the wages paid to him for the labour.

Less often discussed is Marx's view of social alienation in this context: i.e., workers used to take pride in who they are based on their occupation. 'I am the best blacksmith in town.' Automation destroyed that for workers, and it'll come for you/us, too.

Re: AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

#105
post #30

The tradeoff of higher velocity for less enjoyment may feel less welcome when it becomes the new baseline and the expectation of employers / customers. The excitement of getting a day's work done in an hour* (for example) is likely to fade once the expectation is to produce 8 of such old-days output per day. I suspect it doesn't matter how we feel about it mind you. If it's going to happen it will, whether we enjoy t…

Short-term, automated tech debt creation will yield gains. Long term the craftsperson writing excellent code will win. It is now easier than ever to write excellent code, for those that are able to choose their pace.

Can you give an example that's playing out today?

Re: AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

#107
post #30

The tradeoff of higher velocity for less enjoyment may feel less welcome when it becomes the new baseline and the expectation of employers / customers. The excitement of getting a day's work done in an hour* (for example) is likely to fade once the expectation is to produce 8 of such old-days output per day. I suspect it doesn't matter how we feel about it mind you. If it's going to happen it will, whether we enjoy t…

Exactly, maybe "prompt engineering" is really a skill, but the reward for getting better at this is just pumping out more features at a low skill grade. What's excited about this ? Unless I want to spend all my time building minimum viable product.

Re: AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is everyone working shitty jobs not "society becoming shittier"? Seems pretty awful

"Society" is more than just software developers. We are very well paid for very cushy work. It's not good for anyone's work to get worse, but it's not a huge hit to society if a well-paid cushy job gets less cushy. And presumably people buy our work because it's valuable to them. Multiplying that by 8 would be a pretty big benefit to society. I don't want my job to get less fun, but I would press that button without…

If you think software development is cushy, I wonder what kind of software you're writing. Because there are different levels; getting something to work is not the same thing as writing maintainable, high quality software.

I've seen plenty enough people try, really try, to get into software development; but they just can't do it.

Re: AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

#109
post #30

The tradeoff of higher velocity for less enjoyment may feel less welcome when it becomes the new baseline and the expectation of employers / customers. The excitement of getting a day's work done in an hour* (for example) is likely to fade once the expectation is to produce 8 of such old-days output per day. I suspect it doesn't matter how we feel about it mind you. If it's going to happen it will, whether we enjoy t…

For the longest time, IT workers were 'protected' from Marx's alienation of labor by the rarity of your skill, but now it's coming for you/us, too. Claude Code is to programmers what textile machines were to textile workers. >In the capitalist mode of production, the generation of products (goods and services) is accomplished with an endless sequence of discrete, repetitive motions that offer the worker little psycho…

Nope, not until AI is writing high quality, maintainable software; and no one knows if that's even possible yet.

Re: AI coding made me faster, but I can't code to music anymore

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is everyone working shitty jobs not "society becoming shittier"? Seems pretty awful

"Society" is more than just software developers. We are very well paid for very cushy work. It's not good for anyone's work to get worse, but it's not a huge hit to society if a well-paid cushy job gets less cushy. And presumably people buy our work because it's valuable to them. Multiplying that by 8 would be a pretty big benefit to society. I don't want my job to get less fun, but I would press that button without…

My cushy software job has burned me out so badly that I am on medical leave with massive memory problems and a bit of concern about my heart

So I mean... Yeah

Is software more comfortable generally than many other lines of work? Yes probably

Is it always soft and cushy? No, not at all. It is often high pressure and high stress

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