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Yep, small shops definitely benefit. Fewer people means each person already knows more of the codebase. For a 3 person team they might know >50% each, while for
by williamzeng0 3y ago
Yep, small shops definitely benefit. Fewer people means each person already knows more of the codebase. For a 3 person team they might know >50% each, while for a 10 person team they might only know 10%.
The previous belief here would be the 10 person gets more work done, but that will change as AI developers like Sweep become more popular. There are a lot of additional benefits for small teams, like fewer meetings + faster decisions.
- sidlls 3y agoIt remains to be seen whether that’s a benefit. This tool replaces experience junior engineers have needed to become better developers. Its future value is dependent strongly on the assumption that AI tools like this will evolve quickly enough to make using them more valuable than other experience. After all, if it doesn’t keep pace, the two-tier system I mentioned in my other comment will definitively be such that shops using these tools will not be as good as shops with a more traditional engineer skill development path.
- williamzeng0 3y agoInteresting, that change would take some time to materialize. In the meantime it might be best to adopt both? I don't see it as a complete substitute. Right now you could have some junior devs picking up work that Sweep can't handle in order to grow and learn, and eventually still become senior devs. Having a small team also helps with mentorship (more focused attention).
- andrejcasey 3y agoFrom what I've seen in this thread, that basically means junior devs still need to learn about the entire codebase before working on anything meaningful. I have to say I'm very skeptical of AI tools actually replacing developers because AI tools depend so critically on data to function.