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points by joshstrange 3 days ago | 0 comments
While I understand where this author is coming from. and agree that we’ve had a number of false starts or silly concepts like “prompt engineer”, there is definitely a skill in using LLMs, and it is a spectrum for different people.

Being completely engrossed in the new trends is probably not necessary, but keeping abreast of what’s possible and trying new things is. People who have an ignored/avoided LLMs completely are not able to just pick them up today and be as productive as people who have been learning the best ways to use them over the last couple years.

Many of the “skills” are not new, it’s the same skills you’ve been using throughout your career, just with a new tool. But any new tool requires practice and learning what it’s capable of.

I’m constantly experimenting around the edges of what LLMs are good at because it keeps changing and just because an LLM wasn’t good at X task 6 months ago doesn’t mean it still isn’t good at it today. The only way you can know is by testing and trying out things.

I work with a number of smart people, but their LLM proficiency is a wide spectrum. LLMs might/are a leveling factor, but there is still skill in getting what you want out of an LLM. This is most apparent to me when I interact with people who aren’t developers or aren’t as technically savvy. They just aren’t able to produce or get the same things out of an LLM that a developer or more technical person can.

[–] porridgeraisin 2 days ago
An example of this is that it expands the solution space to many things. At a minimum, many tedious things are no longer tedious. Selectively making use of this "tedium-canceler" in the right places is a skill and it can be a differentiator between people.
[–] waynesonfire 3 days ago
> People who have an ignored/avoided LLMs completely are not able to just pick them up today and be as productive as people who have been learning the best ways to use them over the last couple years.

How's it up there in that tower? Citation needed.

[–] rpdillon 3 days ago
What exactly are you challenging? All he's saying is that people who have experience using a complex and changing technology are more effective with it than people that don't have experience. This seems like an uncontroversial take.

In my normal life, most people around me are not using AI and don't really know what to make of it. I tend to ask three questions:

  * Do you think AI could be useful in your career?
  * Do you think leveraging AI to achieve good results requires skill?
  * How long do you think it would take you to develop those skills?
Everybody I've had this conversation with has answered yes to one and two, and everyone seems to think it'll take them between one and six months to develop those skills. I've been using AI for about two and a half years on a daily basis, and I'm still learning things daily, so I think that's the part we're probably underestimating.
[–] joshstrange 3 days ago
Tower? This is from first-hand experience. I see it within my company. I’m not saying you can’t learn or won’t “catch up”, I’m simply pointing out that using LLMs effectively is a skill you need to hone.