Ive been using AI/LLMs for 3 years non-stop and feel like I've barely scratched the surface of learning how to wield them to their full potential. I can’t imagine the mindset of thinking these tools don’t take extreme dedication and skill to master.
I'm OK being left behind, thanks
401–410 of 800 posts
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#402Feels like a false equivalency. It's just my experience, but I've completely ignored crypto and the metaverse, and I don't get the sense I'm missing out on much. In contrast, LLMs in their current state have (for me) dramatically reduced the distance between an idea and a working implementation, which has been legitimately transformative in my software dev life. Transformative for the better? Time will tell I suppose…
> In contrast, LLMs in their current state have (for me) dramatically reduced the distance between an idea and a working implementation, which has been legitimately transformative in my software dev life. Feels like a false dichotomy. Have I become faster with LLMs? Yes, maybe. Is it 10x or 1000x or 10,000x? Definitely not. I think actually in the past I would have leaned more on senior developers, books, stack overf…
>Feel like we’re back at Adobe Dreameaver release and everyone is claiming that web development jobs are dead
I truly believe so much of the anti-AI sentiment is the same as the Luddites.
They're often used as a meme now, but they were very real people, faced with a real and present risk to their livelihoods. They acted out of fear, but not just irrational fear.
AI is the same: it's unquestionably (to anyone evaluating it fairly) a huge boost to productivity ... and also, unquestionably, a threat to programmer jobs.
Maybe the OP is right about waiting, but to me whenever new tech is disrupting jobs, that seems like the best time to learn it. If you don't, it's not just FOMO as the author suggests ... it's failing to keep up on the skills that keep you employed.
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#403Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Suddenly the job ads were "Android Dev. Must have 3 years experience". So just read up on it and say you do. They don't really need 3 years experience, so you don't really need to have it.
Employers check your work history. You'd better be able to back up having the amount of experience they require with paid, value-delivering work at past employers, or they'll pass.
Many actually do not check anything.
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#404Earlier quoted context omitted.
But it's so easy to try something like Claude Code. It's not like you need to get up to speed. There is no learning curve*, that's the nature of AI. Just start using it and you'll see why it has attracted so much hype. *I should qualify that "using" CC in the strict sense has no learning curve, but really getting the most out of it may take some time as you see its limitations. But it's not learning tech in the tradi…
I've been playing with it on weekends for the last few months. 9 out of 10 projects, it's failed. Projects as simple as "set up a tmux/vim binding so I can write prompts in one pane and run claude in the other". Fails. I've been coding for over 20 years. If there is no learning curve, why doesn't it work for me? You can't say I'm not using it right, because if that was true, then all I need to do is climb the learnin…
> If there is no learning curve, why doesn't it work for me?
Because LLMs are not actually good at programming, despite the hype.
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#405Earlier quoted context omitted.
What I get a bit annoyed is companies forcing AI tools, getting usage metrics and actively hunting the engineers that don't use the tool "enough", I've never seen anything like it for a technically optional tool. Even in the past, aside from technical limitaions, you were not required to use enough of a tool. It just sounds like a giant scheme to burn through tokens and give money to the AI corps, and tech directors…
> I've never seen anything like it for a technically optional tool Cloud had a very similar vibe when it was really running advertising to CIO/CTOs hard. Everything had to be jammed into the cloud, even if it made absolutely no sense for it to be run there. This seems to come pretty frequently from visionless tech execs. They need to justify their existence to their boss, and thus try to show how innovative and/or co…
“Cloud” seems like a better comparison than stuff like cryptocurrency. AI seems totally over-hyped but with some obvious sensible use-cases.
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#406Earlier quoted context omitted.
Making the tools available is one thing, but saying you're mandating their use at any level sounds like micro management to me. How would you feel if one of your subordinates started telling you how to do your job? I'm sure you would be mightily pissed off about it.
I don't think telling people what their job is counts as micro management . Part of their job right now is staying abreast of technological developments and experimenting with new ways of working. Re: some of them being upset about it- probably. Some people are also upset about being required to use Jira. I personally dislike using Okta.
It is micromanagement. If the job are not being done, the best way is to investigate what current practices are blocking people from doing it (the answer is probably meetings and bad communication). The worst way is to present a tool as a silver bullet for tasks you’re not doing and not accountable for.
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#407Comparing these tools to the crypto or NFTs hype is so out of touch with reality. This is more on the scale of the invention of the press, the telegraph, or the internet itself. "I'm ok being left behind, I will join this Internet thing when it really becomes useful"... Ok... you do you. Hope you don't get there too late.
> Hope you don't get there too late. Too late for what ? Could no one start a viable internet business in 2005, or were they all taken in 1998? Is it impossible to learn machine learning today, if you weren't jumping into Tensorflow in 2015? Do you think it's impossible to learn OpenClaw today, if you weren't playing with it six months ago, and do you think there might not be a successor that "wins" and is easier to…
In 1998 or 2005 two persons could single-handedly start a Google or a Facebook. Not possible anymore today in Internet.
But in AI a single person created OpenClaw.
It's called low-hanging fruits.
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#408Earlier quoted context omitted.
There may be financial value in being early (if you're lucky), but there are other values in waiting. My goal in life is not to maximize financial return, it's to maximize my impact on things I care about. I try to stay comfortable enough financially to have the luxury to make the decisions that allow me to keep doing things I care about when the opportunities come along. Deciding whether something new is the right p…
> My goal in life is not to maximize financial return, it's to maximize my impact on things I care about. In the vast majority of cases, financial returns help maximize your impact on the things you care about. Arguably in most cases it's more effective for you to provide the financing and direction but not be directly involved. That's why the EA guys are off beng quants. The only real exceptions are things that spec…
> The only real exceptions are things that specifically require you personally, like investing time with your family, or developing yourself in some way.
So, the things that matter the most for most people?
Studies pretty consistently show that happiness caps off at relatively modest wealth.
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#409Earlier quoted context omitted.
It also seems like skills with particular tech (prompt engineering, harnesses, mixture of experts set ups) doesn't always necessarily pay off when there's a sea change. Hard to predict what you'll want in a few years anyway, right?
Past the sea change: half the reason those prompt and harness solutions seem to work are LLM-lies, the testing is gassing you about how it works and the efficacy, defaulting to ‘yes’. If you test specific features of those solutions over time you see very inconsistent results, lots of lies, and seemingly stable solutions that one-shot well but suddenly experience behaviour changes due to tweaks on the backend. Tuesda…
People are doing toy projects and praising them, while some are testing them in real world situations and not findings them that useful. But the former is labelling the latter as luddites and telling them they will be left behind.
Re: I'm OK being left behind, thanks
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
But it's so easy to try something like Claude Code. It's not like you need to get up to speed. There is no learning curve*, that's the nature of AI. Just start using it and you'll see why it has attracted so much hype. *I should qualify that "using" CC in the strict sense has no learning curve, but really getting the most out of it may take some time as you see its limitations. But it's not learning tech in the tradi…
> There is no learning curve*, that's the nature of AI. There isn't? Then why is it that whenever devs have tried it and not achieved useful results, they're told that they just haven't learned how to use it right?
Because the AI bros hyping it up are incapable of admitting that the hype is overblown. That would mean they have nothing to sell you, so of course they aren't going to say that.