> LLM’s amplify what you already have: opinions, structure, frameworks. So far, so agreeable, but… > If you have thoughts, they come out sharper and faster. I can’t help but wonder whether constant use of “agent” harnesses will lead to an atrophy of the software engineering (or really any field) muscles. Actual muscles need exercise to stay in shape (let alone grow), so does the brain. Can we really be sure that thou…
> Conversely, I also am a user of LLMs (true shocker these days, I know), and am noticing a speedup in areas I was already familiar with, and a quicker introduction to new ones. The obvious benefit cannot be denied, and doing so regardless makes you look uninformed. [Excluding people who don’t want anything to do with LLMs out of moral principle, which curiously just like the overarching topic I also both respect and…
While I can see that you feel very passionately about this, the reality is that it's the majority experience that will dictate adoption.
There may never be published research on productivity -- blinding in this instance is impossible, so I don't know how you'd ever do fully-controlled behavioural studies that carried any weight. It doesn't matter. If enough of us decide that LLMs are useful to us, then this form of coding will become the norm.
If that ends up causing more harm than good, then eventually there will be a course correction. But for now, for enough people that matter, LLMs are at least giving the perception of productivity increases. And our decisions and choices come down to the perception of reality, not reality itself (for better or worse).
So I think it's far more useful to take a pragmatic approach, as per TFA. Accept that LLMs have issues, but also bring advantages, and that LLM use in coding is here to stay. What we can do is remain aware of the bad, and make better use of the good.
As for you, personally ... if you mentally cannot deal with LLM output, then I think you have two choices. You can either learn to author system prompts, so that LLM output better fits your needs and no longer triggers you; or you can sit more and more on the outer, raging against the machine while the world changes around you.
Eventually, you'll be like a master craftsman in an era of mass-production. But that's potentially highly valuable in niche markets (consider a watchmaker working in Glashutte, for example), so you may yet win from this. Remember that every day, LLMs are making your own coding skills and knowledge more elite and therefore lucrative, sit back, and smile.