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On the contrary, I would class myself a mid to high skill dev, I have a CS degree and about 10 years of Java/C++/Rust/Python under my belt (focused on Financial

On the contrary, I would class myself a mid to high skill dev, I have a CS degree and about 10 years of Java/C++/Rust/Python under my belt (focused on Financial Market applications). I would consider myself today 2-3x more effective than where I was 12 months ago. I can grok on a new code bases much faster by having an AI explain things to me only a grey beard could previously, I can ask Gemini 2.5 (1M context length) crazy things like “please create a sprint program for new feature xyz” and get really good high quality answers. Even crazier I can feed those sprints to Claude Code (CI/CD tests all running) and it will do a very good job of implementing. My other option is I can farm those sprints out to human dev resources I have at hand and then spend 90% of my time “thinking, hand holding and talking about code and solutions” and working with other devs to get code in prod. Imo this is a false victory, emphasis should be on shipping. Although each domain / pipeline / field needs and prioritises different things and rightfully so. AI lets me ship so much faster and for me that means $$$. I think I am a realist and your last point about “engineering” - is a contradiction. Maybe try better tools? Lastly: “While the problem of ai can be viewed as, “Which of all the things humans do can machines also do?,” I would prefer to ask the question in another form: “Of all of life’s burdens, which are those machines can relieve, or significantly ease, for us?” Richard Hamming, pg.43 The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn

aristofun 1y ago
> I can grok on a new code bases much faster How often you grok a new code base per year? If that's the core of your work, then yes - you benefit from ai much more than some other engineers. Every situation is unique for sure. > I would class myself a mid to high skill dev It's not about your skill level, rather about the nature of your job (working on a single product, outsourcing company with time framed projects, r&d etc.)
moribvndvs 1y ago
Are you able to qualify a “2-3x” improvement? That’s a honest question. The anecdotes out there are wildly all over the place, and don’t match up with my own experience or that of my peers. I’ve only seen a marginal uplift, which includes productivity offsets caused by mistakes and hallucinations, not only for my own work, but from LLM assisted output from coworkers.

aristofun 1y ago

> I can grok on a new code bases much faster How often you grok a new code base per year? If that's the core of your work, then yes - you benefit from ai much more than some other engineers. Every situation is unique for sure. > I would class myself a mid to high skill dev It's not about your skill level, rather about the nature of your job (working on a single product, outsourcing company with time framed projects, r&d etc.)

moribvndvs 1y ago

Are you able to qualify a “2-3x” improvement? That’s a honest question. The anecdotes out there are wildly all over the place, and don’t match up with my own experience or that of my peers. I’ve only seen a marginal uplift, which includes productivity offsets caused by mistakes and hallucinations, not only for my own work, but from LLM assisted output from coworkers.