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Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

arxiv.org

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Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#31

Post by _cenw »

runtimepanic wrote: post #4

The title is doing a lot of work here. What resonated with me is the shift from “writing code” to “steering systems” rather than the hype framing. Senior devs already spend more time constraining, reviewing, and shaping outcomes than typing syntax. AI just makes that explicit. The real skill gap isn’t prompt cleverness, it’s knowing when the agent is confidently wrong and how to fence it in with tests, architecture,…

Is anyone else getting more mentally exhausted by this? I get more done, but I also miss the relaxing code typing in the middle of the process.

Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#32

Post by agentifysh »

banbangtuth wrote: post #20
agentifysh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

having fun isn't tied to employment unless you are self-employed even then what's fun should not be the driving force

Why? It is a matter of values. Fun can be a driving force just like money and stability is. It is simply a matter of your values (and your sacrifices). Like I said, I am just a generic replaceable dime a dozen programmer dude.

you dont get paid to have fun but to produce as a laborer

a job isn't supposed to be fun its nice when it is but it shouldn't be what drives decisions

Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#33

Post by simonw »

This is pretty recent - the survey they ran (99 respondents) was August 18 to September 23 2025 and the field observations (watching developers for 45 minute then a 30 minute interview, 13 participants) were August 1 to October 3.

The models were mostly GPT-5 and Claude Sonnet 4. The study was too early to catch the 5.x Codex or Claude 4.5 models (bar one mention of Sonnet 4.5.)

This is notable because a lot of academic papers take 6-12 months to come out, by which time the LLM space has often moved on by an entire model generation.

Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#34

Post by agentifysh »

llmslave2 wrote: post #25
agentifysh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

having fun isn't tied to employment unless you are self-employed even then what's fun should not be the driving force

That sounds miserable to me :(

you work on somebody's dime, its no longer your choice

Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#35

Post by dheera »

simonw wrote: post #33

This is pretty recent - the survey they ran (99 respondents) was August 18 to September 23 2025 and the field observations (watching developers for 45 minute then a 30 minute interview, 13 participants) were August 1 to October 3. The models were mostly GPT-5 and Claude Sonnet 4. The study was too early to catch the 5.x Codex or Claude 4.5 models (bar one mention of Sonnet 4.5.) This is notable because a lot of acade…

> academic papers take 6-12 months to come out

It takes about 6 months to figure out how to get LaTeX to position figures where you want them, and then another 6 months to fight with reviewers

Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#36

Post by zwnow »

aspenmartin wrote: post #26
zwnow wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also it really baffles me how many are actually in on the hype train. Its a lot more than the crypto bros back in the day. Good thing AI still cant reason and innovate stuff. Also leaking credentials is a felony in my country so I also wont ever attach it to my codebases.

I think the issue is folks talk past each other. People who find coding agents useful or enjoyable are labeled “on the hype train” and folks for which coding agents don’t work for them or their workflow are considered luddites. There are an incredible number of contradicting claims and predictions out there as well, and I believe what we see is folks projecting their reaction to some amalgamation of them onto others.…

Its all a hype train though. People still believe in the AI gonna bring utopia bullshit while the current infra is being built on debt. The only reason it still exists is that all these AI companies believe in some kind of revenue outside of subscriptions. So its all about:

Owning the infrastructure and enshittify (ads) once enough products are based on AI.

Its the same chokehold Amazon has on its Vendors.

Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#38

Post by yacthing »

banbangtuth wrote: post #9

You know what. After seeing all these articles about AI/LLM for these past 4 years, about how they are going to replace me as software developers and about how I am not productive enough without using 5 agents and being a project manager. I. Don't. Care. I don't even care about those debates outside. Debates about do LLM work and replace programmers? Say they do, ok so what? I simply have too much fun programming. I…

Easy to say if you either:

(1) already have enough money to survive without working, or

(2) don't realize how hard of a life it would be to "flip burgers" to make a living in 2026.

We live very good lives as software developers. Don't be a fool and think you could just "flip burgers" and be fine.

Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#39

Post by simonw »

_cenw wrote: post #31
runtimepanic wrote: post #4

The title is doing a lot of work here. What resonated with me is the shift from “writing code” to “steering systems” rather than the hype framing. Senior devs already spend more time constraining, reviewing, and shaping outcomes than typing syntax. AI just makes that explicit. The real skill gap isn’t prompt cleverness, it’s knowing when the agent is confidently wrong and how to fence it in with tests, architecture,…

Is anyone else getting more mentally exhausted by this? I get more done, but I also miss the relaxing code typing in the middle of the process.

Yes, absolutely, I can be mentally wiped out by lunch.

Re: Professional software developers don't vibe, they control

#40

Post by joenot443 »

simonw wrote: post #33

This is pretty recent - the survey they ran (99 respondents) was August 18 to September 23 2025 and the field observations (watching developers for 45 minute then a 30 minute interview, 13 participants) were August 1 to October 3. The models were mostly GPT-5 and Claude Sonnet 4. The study was too early to catch the 5.x Codex or Claude 4.5 models (bar one mention of Sonnet 4.5.) This is notable because a lot of acade…

Thanks Simon - always quick on the draw.

Off your intuition, do you think the same study with Codex 5.2 and Opus 4.5 would see even better results?

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