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Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

martinalderson.com

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Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#131
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is happening though internally in businesses I've worked with. A few of them are starting to replace SaaS tools with custom built internal tooling. I suspect this pattern is happening everywhere to a varying level. Often these SaaS tools are expensive, aren't actually that complicated (or if they are complicated, the bit they need isn't) and have limitations. For example, a company I know recently got told their v…

> It is happening though internally in businesses I've worked with How many samples do you have? Which industries are they from? Which SaaS products were they using, exactly and which features? > ...a company I know recently got told their v1 API they relied on on some back office SaaS tool was being deprecated. V2 of the API didn't have the same features ... dev spends a week or two rebuilding that tool Was that Saa…

I'm not the OP, but I do have an annectote.

We've got an backend pipeline that does image processing. At every step of the pipeline, it would make copies of small (less than 10MB) files from an S3 storage source, do a task, then copy the results back up to the storage source.

Originally, it was using AWS but years ago it was decided that AWS was not cost effective so we turned to another partner OVH and Backblaze.

Unfortunately, the reliability and throughput of both of them isn't as consistent as AWS and this has been a constant headache.

We were going to go back to AWS or find a new partner, but I nominated we use NFS. So we build nothing, pay nothing, get POSIX semantics back, and speed has gone up 3x. At peak, we only copy 40GB of files per day, so it was never really necessary to use S3 except that our servers were distributed and that was the only way anyone previously could think to give each server the same storage source.

While this isn't exactly what the OP and you are talking about, I think it illustrates a fact: SaaS software was seen as the hammer to all nails, giving you solutions and externalizing problems and accountability.

Now that either the industry has matured, building in-house is easier, or cost centers need to be reduced, SaaS is going be re-evaluated under the context of 'do we really need it'?

I think the answer to many people is going to be no, you don't need enterprise level solutions at all levels of your company, especially if you're not anywhere near the Fortune 1000.

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#132

> I've had Claude Code write an entire unit/integration test suite in a few hours (300+ tests) for a fairly complex internal tool. This would take me, or many developers I know and respect, days to write by hand. I'm not sure about this. The tests I've gotten out in a few hours are the kind I'd approve if another dev sent then but haven't really ended up finding meaningful issues.

I find I get better tests if I use agents to generate tests.

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#133

> I've had Claude Code write an entire unit/integration test suite in a few hours (300+ tests) for a fairly complex internal tool. This would take me, or many developers I know and respect, days to write by hand. I'm not sure about this. The tests I've gotten out in a few hours are the kind I'd approve if another dev sent then but haven't really ended up finding meaningful issues.

Just to be clear, they weren't stupid 'is 1+1=2' type tests.

I had the agent scan the UX of the app being built, find all the common flows and save them to a markdown file.

I then asked the agent to find edge cases for them and come up with tests for those scenarios. I then set off parallel subagents to develop the the test suite.

It found some really interesting edge cases running them - so even if they never failed again there is value there.

I do realise in hindsight it makes it sound like the tests were just a load of nonsense. I was blown away with how well Claude Code + Opus 4.5 + 6 parallel subagents handled this.

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, in practice: would you like to onboard a Boeing 747 where some of the bugs were patched by some agents, what is the percentage risk of malfunction you are going to accept as a passenger?

>> yeah, in practice: would you like to onboard a Boeing 747 where some of the bugs were patched by some agents, In this case, the traditional human process hasn't gone well either.

The bugs were mostly caused by MBAs, who one assumes will remain.

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in the past, you knew the codebase very well, and it was trivial to implement a fix and upgrade the software. Can the same be done with LLMs ? Well from what I see, it depends on your luck. But if the LLMs can't help you, then you gotta read the whole codebase that you've never read before and you quickly lose the initial benefits. I don't doubt someday we'll get there though.

If I haven't looked at my own code in 6 months it might as well have been written by someone else.

The most brilliant programmer I know is me three years ago. I look at code I wrote and I'm literally wondering "how did I figure out how to do that -- that makes no sense, but exactly what is needed!"

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, in practice: would you like to onboard a Boeing 747 where some of the bugs were patched by some agents, what is the percentage risk of malfunction you are going to accept as a passenger?

>> yeah, in practice: would you like to onboard a Boeing 747 where some of the bugs were patched by some agents, In this case, the traditional human process hasn't gone well either.

It is working great as long as it is adhered to and budgeted.

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#137

Good write-up. I don't disagree with any of his points, but does anybody here have practical suggestions on how to move forward and think about one's career? I've been a frontend (with a little full stack) for a few years now, and much of the modern landscape concerns me, specifically with how I should be positioning myself. I hear vague suggestions like "get better at the business domain" and other things like that.…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46197349

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#138
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I happily got rid of a legacy application (lost the pitch, another agency now must deal with the shit) I inherited as a somewhat technically savvy person about a year ago. It was built by real people. Not a single line of AI slop in it. It was the most fragile crap I had ever the misfortune to witness. Even in my wildest vibe coding a prototype moments I was not able to get the AI to produce that amount of anti patte…

The argument isn’t that all slop is AI, but that all AI is slop.

[deleted]

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#139

> I've had Claude Code write an entire unit/integration test suite in a few hours (300+ tests) for a fairly complex internal tool. This would take me, or many developers I know and respect, days to write by hand. I'm not sure about this. The tests I've gotten out in a few hours are the kind I'd approve if another dev sent then but haven't really ended up finding meaningful issues.

Have you noticed how it's never "I got this awesome code!"? It's always "I got good code, trust me". People say their prompts are good, awesome code is being generated, it solved a month's worth of work in a minute. Nobody comes with receipts.

I keep seeing posts like this so I decided to video record all my LLM coding sessions and post them on YouTube. Early days, I only had the idea on Saturday.

Re: Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

#140
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I happily got rid of a legacy application (lost the pitch, another agency now must deal with the shit) I inherited as a somewhat technically savvy person about a year ago. It was built by real people. Not a single line of AI slop in it. It was the most fragile crap I had ever the misfortune to witness. Even in my wildest vibe coding a prototype moments I was not able to get the AI to produce that amount of anti patte…

The argument isn’t that all slop is AI, but that all AI is slop.

Turns out building enterprise software has more in common with generating slop than not.
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