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Now is the best time to write code by hand

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Re: Now is the best time to write code by hand

#21

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

sigseg1v wrote: post #4

Is the purpose of this article to say "If you only do one thing, you will likely not excel at other things"? Is there anyone to which this is not an obvious conclusion? Did I miss the point?

The purpose of the article is to say that the skill of software engineering depends on the ability to write code by hand, even now that you don't necessarily have to on a day to day basis. If you don't keep in practice, the author thinks, you will become less effective even at driving agents than people who do.

Is that true? I'm not quite as confident as the author, but it seems plausible. I've seen a number of managers who used to write code try and fail to drive Claude as well as even the junior engineers reporting to them.

Re: Now is the best time to write code by hand

#22

Post by lmz »

somewhereoutth wrote: post #20
tedd4u wrote: post #11

I think you'd have to start with 55+ years old and go upward to find an age range where more than 10% of programmers routinely wrote assembler code in their careers. To find the same for machine code you'd need to start at 65 or older.

Really not the same. Assembly / machine code is entirely deterministic - they are a notation for your thoughts. LLM produced content is more a smorgasbord of other people's thoughts, and cannot help you with clarity, conviction, etc etc.

Yes Assembly is deterministic (barring severe hardware bugs). But that's the point. People are no longer writing Assembly.

Re: Now is the best time to write code by hand

#23

Post by elephanlemon »

Practicing code specifically is one of many options for engineers right now. How about other skills? For example, now seems like a good opportunity to start developing deep knowledge in a particular domain, so that when you build AI assisted software in that space, you’re competent enough to know if it’s doing the right thing. Or, develop a better understanding of a range of disciplines, so that when you go to solve problems, you’re aware of them and have more areas to draw from. (The combination is what Valve calls a T-shaped employee I believe.) Also a good opportunity to develop your interpersonal skills.

Re: Now is the best time to write code by hand

#24

Post by sitzkrieg »

tedd4u wrote: post #11

I think you'd have to start with 55+ years old and go upward to find an age range where more than 10% of programmers routinely wrote assembler code in their careers. To find the same for machine code you'd need to start at 65 or older.

39 and have over 10 years writing assembly. huh?

Re: Now is the best time to write code by hand

#26

Post by ehnto »

elephanlemon wrote: post #23

Practicing code specifically is one of many options for engineers right now. How about other skills? For example, now seems like a good opportunity to start developing deep knowledge in a particular domain, so that when you build AI assisted software in that space, you’re competent enough to know if it’s doing the right thing. Or, develop a better understanding of a range of disciplines, so that when you go to solve…

I agree. I think the rapid learning generalist has a real advantage right now, but that kind of advantage cannot be leveraged by big companies structured to utilise specialists. I think that's why individual contributors in big teams aren't seeing massive benefits from AI where a small team or solo developer may be seeing greater leverage.

If you are a strong generalist with an entrepreneurial spirit, I think I would be aiming at getting hired by a small company where you can provide a buttload of value or looking at starting something where you have domain experience outside of software.

Re: Now is the best time to write code by hand

#27

Post by sph »

cerealizer wrote: post #6

Yes, I only want hand crafted, artisanal, small-batch, free-range, organic code.

This but unironically. Keep your mass-produced slop for yourself, show me what you have built with effort.

I spent two days learning about quaternions to fix a buggy spaceship moving in space, when an LLM could have done it for me in seconds. A great use of my time: now I understand quaternions and I have levelled up in my knowledge, which makes me more confident to tackle larger problems in this space.

Re: Now is the best time to write code by hand

#29

Post by sph »

ehnto wrote: post #26
elephanlemon wrote: post #23

Practicing code specifically is one of many options for engineers right now. How about other skills? For example, now seems like a good opportunity to start developing deep knowledge in a particular domain, so that when you build AI assisted software in that space, you’re competent enough to know if it’s doing the right thing. Or, develop a better understanding of a range of disciplines, so that when you go to solve…

I agree. I think the rapid learning generalist has a real advantage right now, but that kind of advantage cannot be leveraged by big companies structured to utilise specialists. I think that's why individual contributors in big teams aren't seeing massive benefits from AI where a small team or solo developer may be seeing greater leverage. If you are a strong generalist with an entrepreneurial spirit, I think I would…

Generalists are more competent by definition, but large companies don’t need broad competence, they just need a cog.

Re: Now is the best time to write code by hand

#30

Post by Nevermark »

ehnto wrote: post #26
elephanlemon wrote: post #23

Practicing code specifically is one of many options for engineers right now. How about other skills? For example, now seems like a good opportunity to start developing deep knowledge in a particular domain, so that when you build AI assisted software in that space, you’re competent enough to know if it’s doing the right thing. Or, develop a better understanding of a range of disciplines, so that when you go to solve…

I agree. I think the rapid learning generalist has a real advantage right now, but that kind of advantage cannot be leveraged by big companies structured to utilise specialists. I think that's why individual contributors in big teams aren't seeing massive benefits from AI where a small team or solo developer may be seeing greater leverage. If you are a strong generalist with an entrepreneurial spirit, I think I would…

> I think that's why individual contributors in big teams aren't seeing massive benefits from AI where a small team or solo developer may be seeing greater leverage.

This rings true. It is the best time ever for small teams. A big team is potentially several smaller teams, so this can be a force multiplier for them too.

Another force multiplier for reorganizing larger teams, be willing to consider smaller teams starting with single contributors.

What this is the worst time for: slow adaptation.

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