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Domain expertise has always been the real moat

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Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#221

Post by jplusequalt »

asdff wrote: post #40
wg0 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Audio, video encoders, decoders etc, 3D modeling, rendering etc. That too is "domain" even it feels like it is NOT. Domain of signal processing, Euclidian spaces, information theory and what not. Thar too is all "domain" and that "domain" part is difficult to write.

It is kind of funny though how all this hand wringing on performance, graphics, quality quality quality, has just resulted in basically same stuff as what I was doing with my computer in 2000 but with enormous resource use in comparison. Still playing games, still same old discussion forums/social media/whatever on the internet, same email and office suite, same chat, same media players, same everything. I can't even…

>all this hand wringing on performance, graphics, quality quality quality, has just resulted in basically same stuff as what I was doing with my computer in 2000 but with enormous resource use in compariso

Mordern GPUs are streaming multiprocessors. Complaining that GPUs use a ton of resources is like complaining that a firehose uses a ton of water. Maximum data throughput is the point!

>But that isn't what any of that is. Same old. And the effort spent, the resources, the energy. All for more polygons on Lara Croft

There are MANY novel games being released every year. It's up to you to find them.

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#222

Post by deadbabe »

simonw wrote: post #128
toastmaster11 wrote: post #62

How much pontificating needs to be done before people acknowledge nobody has any idea what to do with AI on an individual level? First being good developer and learning how to use AI was sufficient, next it was being able to design architecture, then it was “taste” that made all the difference and now being an expert in the domain is the only thing that matters really. Until AI is basically in a stable, predictable,…

An idea that's beginning to solidify for me is that AI tools make software development harder . It's harder because they dramatically raise the bar for what's possible to do. An individual developer can take on significantly more challenging projects now, because the ultimate constraint has always been time and AI can help you get more done in the time available. But the stuff you can get done with that time is a who…

You will never beat the vibe coders.

The vibe coders have a key advantage you don’t: they don’t give a fuck.

They blow through a task and move onto the next one. Management sees this as progress, and the vibe coders are rewarded.

When shit breaks later on down the line, and fires have to be put out and things rewritten, the vibe coders do NOT get the blame. They do NOT get punished. Most engineering teams operate on a blameless culture. If code was approved for production, then it should have been good enough. Vibe coders will keep on doing what they do, and skilled experts will be left cleaning up their messes.

For anyone who actually cares, it’s over. You are not steering development anymore.

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#223

Post by lenerdenator »

Chrisoaks wrote: post #188
dominotw wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

developers now are expected to randomly jump around projects and ship without friction. For employers it means they can move us around like pawns. Lot of companies have not reorged themselves to this new type of workforce thats much more malleable. it used to be that i pay your due at some enterpise and learn some corner of codebase really well and become go to person. that would give you job security.

So what enables job security now?

If you can move humans around like pawns, then by definition, they have no job security.

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#224

Post by intrasight »

whattheheckheck wrote: post #216
Chrisoaks wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what enables job security now?

Let them attempt to use ai to build business critical systems and when they waste tens amd hundreds of millions they can rehire master builders who know what they're doing

They will attempt and then soon enough they will be succeeding, and the master builders will have all retired, and that's the point that humans become dependent upon AI's. I aim to live a couple more decades and I sadly expect to see it play out this way.

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#225

Post by derwiki »

deadbabe wrote: post #222
simonw wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An idea that's beginning to solidify for me is that AI tools make software development harder . It's harder because they dramatically raise the bar for what's possible to do. An individual developer can take on significantly more challenging projects now, because the ultimate constraint has always been time and AI can help you get more done in the time available. But the stuff you can get done with that time is a who…

You will never beat the vibe coders. The vibe coders have a key advantage you don’t: they don’t give a fuck. They blow through a task and move onto the next one. Management sees this as progress, and the vibe coders are rewarded. When shit breaks later on down the line, and fires have to be put out and things rewritten, the vibe coders do NOT get the blame. They do NOT get punished. Most engineering teams operate on…

Who approved the vibe coders’ PRs?

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#226

Post by lenerdenator »

spkm wrote: post #107
toastmaster11 wrote: post #62

How much pontificating needs to be done before people acknowledge nobody has any idea what to do with AI on an individual level? First being good developer and learning how to use AI was sufficient, next it was being able to design architecture, then it was “taste” that made all the difference and now being an expert in the domain is the only thing that matters really. Until AI is basically in a stable, predictable,…

Remember the OOP Hype 20 years ago? I'm still cleaning shit up from then in our codebase when everyone used patterns after skimming through the GoF book without even knowing why .... My prediction is in 20 years I will clean up the shit that was co-authored by Claude ... https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@JeremiahFieldhaven/116654345...

The idea that a lot of people have in their heads is that if the code doesn't fit the need, you'll just start over completely with a fresh codebase, because it's so fast to generate it.

In other words, there won't be 20-year-old code in this future.

We'll see if that comes to pass, but there's a lot of money betting that will happen; enough to where people will disregard what the downsides are.

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#227

Post by simonw »

dogcomplex wrote: post #215
simonw wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An idea that's beginning to solidify for me is that AI tools make software development harder . It's harder because they dramatically raise the bar for what's possible to do. An individual developer can take on significantly more challenging projects now, because the ultimate constraint has always been time and AI can help you get more done in the time available. But the stuff you can get done with that time is a who…

That's a roundabout way of saying it makes software development easier. Perhaps even a 180. But yes - once it's that easy you have to step up your ambitions.

Maybe it makes software development easier, but a career as a professional software engineer harder.

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#228

Post by derwiki »

whattheheckheck wrote: post #213
dominotw wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember putting stuff like this on my resume "developed X using visitor pattern" . ppl would ask "what is your favourite design pattern" in interviews. lmao.

Lol the worst pattern

Strangler fig is one of the best, with one of the worst names

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#229

Post by simonw »

deadbabe wrote: post #222
simonw wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An idea that's beginning to solidify for me is that AI tools make software development harder . It's harder because they dramatically raise the bar for what's possible to do. An individual developer can take on significantly more challenging projects now, because the ultimate constraint has always been time and AI can help you get more done in the time available. But the stuff you can get done with that time is a who…

You will never beat the vibe coders. The vibe coders have a key advantage you don’t: they don’t give a fuck. They blow through a task and move onto the next one. Management sees this as progress, and the vibe coders are rewarded. When shit breaks later on down the line, and fires have to be put out and things rewritten, the vibe coders do NOT get the blame. They do NOT get punished. Most engineering teams operate on…

That might be true in the short-term, but I'd be very surprised to see that hold for the long-term.

We've had plenty of technology trends in the past that have promised faster development but has later turned out to have problems. Organizations that stick around learn lessons about what works and what doesn't.

If in a year's time organizations aren't feeling severe downsides from all of the unreviewed vibe-coded junk they put into production then maybe the vibe-coders were right. I'll believe that when I see it.

Re: Domain expertise has always been the real moat

#230

Post by lumost »

toastmaster11 wrote: post #62

How much pontificating needs to be done before people acknowledge nobody has any idea what to do with AI on an individual level? First being good developer and learning how to use AI was sufficient, next it was being able to design architecture, then it was “taste” that made all the difference and now being an expert in the domain is the only thing that matters really. Until AI is basically in a stable, predictable,…

Taste, architecture, new innovations. These are all streams of tokens which are subject to the same scaling laws as code, language, and basic classification.

We are going to see a new generation of models which effectively “solves” these problems for most businesses. Likely within the next two years- then we’ll talk about some other problems which limit adoption.

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