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AI can 10x developers in creating tech debt

stackoverflow.blog

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Re: AI can 10x developers in creating tech debt

#21

Post by powersaustin »

jaapz wrote: post #19
sph wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’ve invented a machine that can spew a lot of garbage out. Sure, you can sift through it to find the nuggets of gold, but the proponents of this new methodology heavily discount this additional effort. Studies seems to show that at the end of the day the benefits are minimal, despite the claims. Once again, it is a sign of modern programming that the solution to more problems is throwing more code at it, rather tha…

It doesn't have to be black and white. I use the agent just as another tool in my programming tool belt. It shines especially in the boring repetetive tasks that would otherwise not be done because I can't justify the needed time. The choices arent just "no agentic AI" and "vibe coding only", there is a middle ground.

I think the issue is that there is a lot of work that is low value but not low risk. It has always been danger to give that to juniors (or have too many juniors) but it at least trains them. If AI adds more juniors then you are basically making a bad resource setup along the lines of the interns are free model.

Re: AI can 10x developers in creating tech debt

#26

Post by [deleted] »

PeterStuer wrote: post #18

It often takes me 3-4 iterations with a coding assistant once you get to a working solution, to get one that still works but is simplified down ditching >80% of needless complexity introduced in the first take. Many stop at the first thing that works. This is totally fine for code that will run once to get a result and then be discarded. But if that code is going into a product or service that will be maintained, you…

[deleted]

Re: AI can 10x developers in creating tech debt

#27

Post by assaddayinh »

sph wrote: post #14
solumunus wrote: post #11

GIGO very much still applies.

We’ve invented a machine that can spew a lot of garbage out. Sure, you can sift through it to find the nuggets of gold, but the proponents of this new methodology heavily discount this additional effort. Studies seems to show that at the end of the day the benefits are minimal, despite the claims. Once again, it is a sign of modern programming that the solution to more problems is throwing more code at it, rather tha…

Its a opportunity, all these ai first companies will die in 5 years from tech debt, if you can human engineer a good replacement thats ready to take over at that point in time.

Re: AI can 10x developers in creating tech debt

#28

Post by _aavaa_ »

dexterlagan wrote: post #23

The tech debt this title speaks of only applies if humans have to deal with it. Tech debt is an assumption made on the grounds that humans are still programming and AI does not evolve. It's the opposite of reality.

Umm, no. Tech debt is a problem for AIs. You can argue current models have gotten smart enough to work despite it, but you still have the same downsides.

Re: AI can 10x developers in creating tech debt

#30

Post by port11 »

PeterStuer wrote: post #18

It often takes me 3-4 iterations with a coding assistant once you get to a working solution, to get one that still works but is simplified down ditching >80% of needless complexity introduced in the first take. Many stop at the first thing that works. This is totally fine for code that will run once to get a result and then be discarded. But if that code is going into a product or service that will be maintained, you…

I have this problem with UX Pilot or Stitch for wireframes that I’ve been working on (from my low-fidelity paper ones to high-fidelity digitals). It takes so many prompts to get the model to do what I want, what’s the point?

UXP costs money, you still pay for the many iterations where it’s their product that did a poor job.

So perhaps with code we’re on the same boat. Since tokens aren’t free, people will stop early/at first working iteration to save money.

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