Hacker News
points by christophilus 4 days ago | 0 comments
For me, it was the creative, puzzle-solving, game-like nature of it. Then I got my first job, and I had 100% autonomy, so a friend of mine and I got to solve real problems for real people in the real world. It was a rush. Making people’s lives better through software is still the biggest motivation for me.
[–] sevenzero 4 days ago
And the creative, puzzle solving, game like nature of it is now completely gone. Answering architectural questions isn't fun to me. I loved the process of writing code and now I hate being a software developer.
[–] toxik 4 days ago
All of it is still important, but you don't _have_ to do it. The LLM will infill a generic solution that looks about as good as AI art. It will have bugs down the line as important levels of encapsulation were not observed, state was not thought about or formalized, and global data dependencies are implicited all over the place.
[–] sevenzero 4 days ago
That might be true for your stack but I am employed as a Laravel Web Developer and AI can code faster and better than me. Honestly, I have no idea how I am still employed.

I did start learning Rust recently, without using AI at all, and the process of coding is very fun. But I can't help but feel like the farmer who refused to use tractors...

Personally I just wait to be laid off, so I am forced to change things.

[–] toxik 3 days ago
I think my point is that not everything requires a well-engineered solution. Many times a badly-made cheap solution is a better alternative than a well-made expensive solution. That is true of AI "art" too. If you need a picture for a throwaway slide deck, fine. If you're designing the cover of your new book, maybe not.
[–] alfiedotwtf 3 days ago
Don’t sweat it… tractors aren’t driving themselves yet so you’ve got a bit of time left
[–] pixl97 3 days ago
>tractors aren’t driving themselves

Depends what you mean by that. In the top end tractors they are driving themselves 90%+ of the time. The guy in the tractor is just there to make sure nothing goes wrong.

There is a lot of automation tech in farming, it's just not all spread evenly.

[–] goodmythical 3 days ago
Hell, lawn mowers have been able to drive themselves for a few years. But then, we rarely see that because the machines are too costly for most individual families.

Same with the tractors. John down around the bend probably doesn't have a GPS driven tractor, but Deere sells 'em, so there must be customers.

[–] toxik 3 days ago
I think autonomous mowers are more a tech problem. Just like the vacuum cleaners, they're only successful in the case of literally zero eventualities. Rake left out in the grass? Ope, guess you need a new mower blade. Dog poop or slick of jam on the floor? Congratulations, literal Picasso has been made for you. On the floor.

Ranting on, even dishwasher machines are like this. You have to stack and unstack, easily the most labor intensive part of the job, and you have to do it just right. Spatula jams the upper spray arm spindle? Sorry, best I can do is literally baked on residues that will NOT come off next cycle.

I'm not sure what point I was making but I'm sure this connects to shoddy LLM software in some way.

[–] cmrx64 4 days ago
(btw what ended up being the resolution of your great grandfather’s ring? I was flipping through your history to see what you work on :)
[–] vconnor 4 days ago
I loved becoming fluent in the language of logic to tell magic rocks to do my bidding.

Making people’s lives better was always an incidental benefit, but also I learned pretty soon that the only life I was improving was my boss’ and the company revenue sheet. I don’t delude myself anymore that I am making the world a better place, and in any case I would enjoy talking to computers even if it was a completely useless activity.