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Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

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Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#431

Post by nickjj »

Is it only possible to have success with paid versions of these LLMs?

Google's "Ask AI" and ChatGPT's free models seem to be consistently bad to the point where I've mostly stopped using them.

I've lost track of how many times it was like "yes, you're right, I've looked at the code you've linked and I see it is using a newer version than what I had access to. I've thoroughly scanned it and here's the final solution that works".

And then the solution fails because it references a flag or option that doesn't even exist. Not even in the old or new version, a complete hallucination.

It also seems like the more context it has, the worse it becomes and it starts blending in previous solutions that you explained didn't work already that are organized slightly different in the code but does the wrong thing.

This happens to me almost every time I use it. I couldn't imagine paying for these results, it would be a huge waste of money and time.

Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#432

Post by pajamasam »

iExploder wrote: post #307
rapnie wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take that to its extreme. Suppose there was a technology that you do not own that would make everyone's job redundant. Everyone out of a job. There is no need for education, for skills to be mastered, for expertise. Would it still be insane to complain?

take that to absolute extreme. Why do we even need a job? If all our physical needs are met maybe humanity can finally focus on real problems (spiritual, mental, inter personal) that no amount of "jobs" can solve...

Because greedy capitalists control the world which means that most people's most basic needs aren't met if they don't have a job.

Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#433

Post by bdangubic »

cube00 wrote: post #415
brabel wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an ageist quote. I am in my 40s and never stopped coding even as I've become the principal engineer. Claude just frees me from the mundane tasks I'd done a million times before and never wanted to do again if possible, which it now is. I can still throw a fastball without AI, but why would I when I can throw it much faster, with much less effort now, while still enjoying what I am doing? It's still coding. If yo…

> Claude just frees me from the mundane tasks I'd done a million times before and never wanted to do again if possible, which it now is. What kind of tasks?

writing any git command, ever, writing any documentation, ever. writing comments in issue trackers, resolving issues in issue trackers, doing pretty much anything in the terminal, ever… basically every imaginable thing which takes time away from the actual job

Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#435

Post by juanre »

samiv wrote: post #51

As a principal engineer I feel completely let down. I've spent decades building up and accumulating expert knowledge and now that has been massively devalued. Any idiot can now prompt their way to the same software. I feel depressed and very unmotivated and expect to retire soon. Talk about a rug pull! My experience is that people who weren't very good at writing software are the ones now "most excited" to "create" w…

I think that the biggest difference is between people who mostly enjoy the act of programming (carefully craft beautiful code; you read and enjoyed "Programming Pearls" and love SICP), vs the people who enjoy having the code done, well structured and working, and mostly see the act of writing it as an annoying distraction.

I've been programming for 40 years, and I've been on both sides. I love how easy it is to be in the flow when writing something that stretches my abilities in Common Lisp, and I thoroughly enjoy the act of programming then. But coding a frontend in React, or yet another set of Python endpoints, is just necessary toil to a desired endpoint.

I would argue that people like you are now in the perfect position to help drive what software needs writing, because you understand the landscape. You won't be the one typing, but you can still be the one architecting it at a much higher level. I've found enjoyment and solace in this.

Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#436

Post by spotijk »

I'm 45 and I feel exactly the same way.

Such a big part of coding becomes mundane after a while. Constantly solving variations of the same kinds of problems.

Now Claude does it at my direction and I get so much more done!

But maybe even more important: It gets me to go outside my comfort zone and try things I wouldn't normally try because of the time it would take me to figure it out.

Like: Wat if I used this other audio library? I don't have to figure it out, I just pass in the interface I need to implement and get 90% of a working solution.

AI augmented programming couldn't have come at a better time and I'm really happy with it!

Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#437

Post by pajamasam »

satvikpendem wrote: post #230
ipaddr wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There may not be a job for you in an office setting. What would you do?

That's when the problem shifts from individual to systemic, and only systemic solutions fix systemic problems.

I think that a what a lot of anti-AI folks are trying to argue without saying it explicitly is that it already is a systemic problem. They're not necessarily against the technology on its own, but against the systemic problems it would introduce if society doesn't take a stance against it.

Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#438

Post by dccoolgai »

fsloth wrote: post #388
samiv wrote: post #51

As a principal engineer I feel completely let down. I've spent decades building up and accumulating expert knowledge and now that has been massively devalued. Any idiot can now prompt their way to the same software. I feel depressed and very unmotivated and expect to retire soon. Talk about a rug pull! My experience is that people who weren't very good at writing software are the ones now "most excited" to "create" w…

I am sorry you feel that way but I feel professionally strongly insulted by your statement. Specifically the implication high LLM affinity implies low professional competence. "My experience is that people who weren't very good at writing software are the ones now "most excited" to "create" with a LLM." Strong disagree. I've earned my wings. 5 years realtime rendering in world class teams. 13 years in AEC CAD develop…

Why would I need this tool if I can just say "Claude, make me a CAD drawing of XYZ"?

Not trying to be rude, just generating some empathy for the OP's situation, which I think was missed: Like them, there is something you are passionate about that there is no longer really a point to. You could argue "but people will need to use my tool to generate really _good_ CAD drawings" but how much marginal value does that create over getting a "good enough" one in 2 minutes from Claude?

I feel sorry for bringing this up, but I think you might have missed how the thing that makes this possible makes it unnecessary.

Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#439

Post by Gigachad »

nickjj wrote: post #431

Is it only possible to have success with paid versions of these LLMs? Google's "Ask AI" and ChatGPT's free models seem to be consistently bad to the point where I've mostly stopped using them. I've lost track of how many times it was like "yes, you're right, I've looked at the code you've linked and I see it is using a newer version than what I had access to. I've thoroughly scanned it and here's the final solution t…

At least from what I’ve seen, yes you do have to pay for anything useful. But just the cheaper plans seem worth the price.

Re: Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion

#440

Post by abm53 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #187
samiv wrote: post #51

As a principal engineer I feel completely let down. I've spent decades building up and accumulating expert knowledge and now that has been massively devalued. Any idiot can now prompt their way to the same software. I feel depressed and very unmotivated and expect to retire soon. Talk about a rug pull! My experience is that people who weren't very good at writing software are the ones now "most excited" to "create" w…

> My experience is that people who weren't very good at writing software are the ones now "most excited" to "create" with a LLM. My experience is the opposite. Those with a passion for the field and the ability to dig deeply into systems are really excited right now (literally all that power just waiting to be guided to do good...and oh does it need guidance!). Those who were just going through the motions and punchi…

I wouldn’t say the pessimists fall into that category.

In my experience they are mostly the subset of engineers who enjoyed coding in and of itself and ——in some cases—— without concern for the end product.

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