Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I am happier writing code by hand

abhinavomprakash.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 334 posts

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#21

Post by sgarland »

candiddevmike wrote: post #10
woeirua wrote: post #5

This is no different then carpentry. Yes, all furniture can now be built by machines. Some people still choose to build it by hand. Does that make them less productive? Yes. Will they ever carve furniture by hand for a business? Probably not. Can they still enjoy the act of working with the wood? Yes. If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do…

> If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do that professionally for much longer. If you can't code by hand professionally anymore, what are you being paid to do? Bring the specs to the LLMs? Deal with the customers so the LLMs don't have to?

This is what I don’t understand: why highly-paid SWEs seem to think that their salaries will remain the same (if they even still have a job) if their role is now a glorified project manager.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#22

Post by ryan_n »

I said something similar in a different thread but the joy of actually physically writing code is the main reason why I became a software developer. I think there is some beauty to writing code. I enjoy typing the syntax, the interaction with my IDE, debugging by hand (and brain) rather than LLM, even if it's less efficient. I still use AI, but I do find it terribly sad that this type of more "manual" programming seems to be being forced out.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#23

Post by gedy »

woeirua wrote: post #5

This is no different then carpentry. Yes, all furniture can now be built by machines. Some people still choose to build it by hand. Does that make them less productive? Yes. Will they ever carve furniture by hand for a business? Probably not. Can they still enjoy the act of working with the wood? Yes. If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do…

"code by hand" is frequently figuring out what the project is even supposed to do and not the slow part (at least for me).

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#24

Post by Trasmatta »

rf15 wrote: post #9

This is pointing out one factor of vibecoding that is talked about too little: that it feels good, and that this feeling often clouds people's judgment on what is actually achieved (i.e. you lost control of the code and are running more and more frictionless on hopes and dreams)

I'll also say that vibecoding only feels good until it doesn't. And then you realize you don't understand the huge mess of code you've just produced at all.

At least when I write by hand, I have a deep and intimate understanding of the system.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#25

Post by xyzzy_plugh »

rf15 wrote: post #9

This is pointing out one factor of vibecoding that is talked about too little: that it feels good, and that this feeling often clouds people's judgment on what is actually achieved (i.e. you lost control of the code and are running more and more frictionless on hopes and dreams)

Conversely I feel like this is talked about a lot. I think this is a sort of essential cognitive dissonance that is present in many scenarios we're already beyond comfortable with, such as hiring consultants or off-shoring or adopting the latest hot framework. We are a species that likes things that feel good even if they're bad for us.

We don't stand a chance and we know it.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#26

Post by hirako2000 »

woeirua wrote: post #16
candiddevmike wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do that professionally for much longer. If you can't code by hand professionally anymore, what are you being paid to do? Bring the specs to the LLMs? Deal with the customers so the LLMs don't have to?

Every engineer in the next two years needs to prepare themselves for this conversation to play out (from Office Space): > Bob Slydell: What you do at Initech is you take the specifications from the customer and bring them down to the software engineers? > Tom Smykowski: Yes, yes that's right. > Bob Porter: Well then I just have to ask why can't the customers take them directly to the software people? > Tom Smykowski:…

And that "ah sometimes" costs what? Not forgetting you are also paying for tokens.

It's a bit like eating junk food everyday and ah sometimes I go see the doctor he keep saying I should eat more healthy and lose some weight.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#28

Post by hirako2000 »

falloutx wrote: post #20
CurleighBraces wrote: post #14

Has anyone got any insights into what hiring software engineers looks like these days? As someone currently with a job and not hiring it is hard to imagine. Has there been any sort of paradigm shift in coding interviews? Is LLM use expected/encouraged or frowned upon? If companies are still looking for people to write code by hand then perhaps the author is onto something, if however we as an industry are moving on,…

Most of the hiring is happening in heavy AI coding companies, a lot of mid sized companies have freezed hiring or they are also only hiring people who claim to use AI to be 10x devs. For non-lying devs, only big companies seem to be hiring and their process hasnt changed much. you are still expect to solve leetcode and then also sit through system design.

I confirm less hiring and those who do throw more difficult leetcode challenges than ever. The kind of challenge impossible to solve in time without an LLM doing the most part.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#29

Post by falloutx »

woeirua wrote: post #16
candiddevmike wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do that professionally for much longer. If you can't code by hand professionally anymore, what are you being paid to do? Bring the specs to the LLMs? Deal with the customers so the LLMs don't have to?

Every engineer in the next two years needs to prepare themselves for this conversation to play out (from Office Space): > Bob Slydell: What you do at Initech is you take the specifications from the customer and bring them down to the software engineers? > Tom Smykowski: Yes, yes that's right. > Bob Porter: Well then I just have to ask why can't the customers take them directly to the software people? > Tom Smykowski:…

PMs can always keep their jobs because they appear to be working and they keep contact with the execs directly. They have taken a bigger and bigger part of the tech pie over the years and soon they finally take it all.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#30

Post by xnx »

sgarland wrote: post #21
candiddevmike wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do that professionally for much longer. If you can't code by hand professionally anymore, what are you being paid to do? Bring the specs to the LLMs? Deal with the customers so the LLMs don't have to?

This is what I don’t understand: why highly-paid SWEs seem to think that their salaries will remain the same (if they even still have a job) if their role is now a glorified project manager.

Salaries might remain the same, but they'll be expected to produce a lot more.
Post reply on HN