"Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers • Hacker News Board

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#51

Post by woodruffw » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:23 PM UTC

hakunin wrote: post #47

bob1029 wrote: post #9

> If coding is easy, how come programmers were in high demand, and have demanded large salaries for years (even before ZIRP)? Because programmers have generally been forced to wear additional, invisible hats that are essential to making the code happen in the first place. Writing code is not hard. Writing correct code is. Knowing what is correct in a setting with paying customers generally involves interacting with t…

> Writing code is not hard. Writing correct code is. Knowing what is correct in a setting with paying customers generally involves interacting with those customers. That's like saying "building a car is not hard, building a real car that you can use and that passes regulation is". IOW, writing code is hard in every reasonable context.

How many programmers operate under that kind of regulatory and operational constraint regime? I think most don’t.

(In interesting ways this is programming’s greatest boon and curse: if we treated it more like building bridges or cars, the world would be a very different place.)

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#52

Post by phendrenad2 » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:24 PM UTC

It's more accurate to say "code was only the worst bottleneck in a multi-bottleneck system". The second-worst bottleneck has been promoted to first. And it might be only marginally better.

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#53

Post by photios » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:25 PM UTC

hakunin wrote: post #47

bob1029 wrote: post #9

> If coding is easy, how come programmers were in high demand, and have demanded large salaries for years (even before ZIRP)? Because programmers have generally been forced to wear additional, invisible hats that are essential to making the code happen in the first place. Writing code is not hard. Writing correct code is. Knowing what is correct in a setting with paying customers generally involves interacting with t…

> Writing code is not hard. Writing correct code is. Knowing what is correct in a setting with paying customers generally involves interacting with those customers. That's like saying "building a car is not hard, building a real car that you can use and that passes regulation is". IOW, writing code is hard in every reasonable context.

> Writing code is not hard. Writing correct code is.

Now add the time dimension - keeping code correct as the business and the people in it change.

That's how I explain to people that LLMs will not replace us developers.

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#54

Post by teaearlgraycold » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:26 PM UTC

tehologist wrote: post #23

Coding is easy if you enjoy doing it, met plenty of professional programmers that hated it and never felt the desire to improve. To them it was a way to get a paycheck that paid reasonably well.

Better to have a job you don't like that pays well than to have a job you don't like that pays poorly. But at the same time - if you're smart enough to program well enough to get paid while hating it it's such a shame to not find something you enjoy that will still pay you enough.

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#55

Post by jdw64 » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:27 PM UTC

No, code was always difficult.

To be precise, it depends on the domain. The people who could actually write algorithms or core implementations were always a minority. Programmers like me mostly did copy-paste from Stack Overflow or assembled libraries.

It's not that code wasn't difficult—it really was.

In CRUD apps, about 70~80%of the work was building the same thing over and over, so once you got familiar with it, most of it was repetitive practice. But the number of people who could actually create something new was always small.

Most business programs had issues that arose in the application stage, the application layer. In this application layer, only a very small portion involved difficult logic. Most of it was just applied.

The problem is that people often romanticize the lower layers beyond their own, compilers and low level systems, calling that 'real programming,' and in doing so, they make programming seem harder than it is. In reality, the coding that most people make money from is mostly at the abstracted layers. The infrastructure beneath those layers is owned by giant corporations. If you work at one of those giants, that's fine. But beneath them are countless consumers paying those giants, and the coding that targets those consumers isn't that difficult.

In the end, whether coding was difficult or easy depends entirely on which layer you're working in.

What's certain is that coding was difficult, and it still is.

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#56

Post by Ekaros » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:27 PM UTC

anonzzzies wrote: post #8

firebot wrote: post #7

> If coding is easy, why is software so damn buggy? Debugging is hard.

And people are very lazy; test one ideal path, works, done.

It is usually forgetting that everything can fail and will fail. And I mean everything. If it shouldn't fail it will at some point. And you should take that into account. And we usually don't until third or so time...

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#57

Post by rufasterisco » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

> I don't mean to imply there are no developers that simultaneously care deeply about the craft of software development and really empathize with the customer. I do believe they might want to see a professional about a split personality disorder, tho.

Well, this is also an insult.

Cleanest way I read this is seeing how basically none of it makes any sense for someone coding as a hobby, or in any non-business context.

This is not an article about coding, it’s a promotional piece for business stakeholders.

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#58

Post by gaigalas » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:30 PM UTC

> If deciding what to build is the hard part, why do so many product managers seem clueless?

The divide between product managers and developers mimics the artificial divide between humanities and STEM.

You divide workers into competing groups, then make they outperform each other.

In reality, practically all humans can both become excellent coders and acquire deep product skills as well. We can also learn a wide variety of other skills in a single lifetime. The only blockers on that are social and psychological, you're meant to not believe that is possible.

All this talk about code in this adversarial role with product comes from that, and all of it dissolves under almost any valid critical angle. The engagement with this kind of discussion takes place exclusively in that aforementioned social layer.

TL;DR weak bait

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#59

Post by skydhash » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

woodruffw wrote: post #51

hakunin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Writing code is not hard. Writing correct code is. Knowing what is correct in a setting with paying customers generally involves interacting with those customers. That's like saying "building a car is not hard, building a real car that you can use and that passes regulation is". IOW, writing code is hard in every reasonable context.

How many programmers operate under that kind of regulatory and operational constraint regime? I think most don’t. (In interesting ways this is programming’s greatest boon and curse: if we treated it more like building bridges or cars, the world would be a very different place.)

I think most do. You often sees that OSS often provide a disclaimer that they’re not liable for damages. You can’t easily do that when you provide a paid service. B2B often have SLA contracts that usually keeps everyone on their toes and not sling bugs right and left.

Re: "Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers

#60

Post by unfitted2545 » Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

photios wrote: post #53

hakunin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Writing code is not hard. Writing correct code is. Knowing what is correct in a setting with paying customers generally involves interacting with those customers. That's like saying "building a car is not hard, building a real car that you can use and that passes regulation is". IOW, writing code is hard in every reasonable context.

> Writing code is not hard. Writing correct code is. Now add the time dimension - keeping code correct as the business and the people in it change. That's how I explain to people that LLMs will not replace us developers.

https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-11241-from_managerial_feudalism_...

Timestamp is: 36:42-39:55

I believe Graeber perfectly predicts the problems, in 2019, with vibe coding creating immediate "value" from production, but failing to produce true value through maintaining the system (like one continually washes a cup to give it value over time).