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We are teaching programmers how to prompt engineer instead of programming… What a world we live in.

by vrnvu 1y ago

awb 1y ago
Your native language is now a programming language.
- 1_08iu 1y ago
  If people feel that they need to learn different language patterns in order to communicate effectively in their native language with an LLM then I'm not sure if I agree. I think that if your native language truly was a programming language then there wouldn't be any need for prompt engineering. Regardless, I think that programmers are quite well-suited to the methods described in the article, but only in the same way that programmers are generally better at Googling things than the average person; they can imagine what the system needs to see in order to produce the result they want even if that isn't necessarily a natural description of their problem.
  - awb 1y ago
    As an engineer, if you’ve had a skilled Project Manager you’ve receive detailed, thoughtful “prompts” on how to complete a project that leads to a shared understanding. But with unskilled Project Managers you might receive a vague “prompt” that leads to ambiguity and misalignment. And Project Managers can go through training or read books on how to effectively “prompt” (aka communicate) more effectively. When I say that your native language is now a programming language, I mean that you are now the Project Manager, and the code is generated automatically. But because the code is auto-generated, the focus shifts towards the “prompt” as the first and potentially only step in generating code.
wiseowise 1y ago
What shall we teach them instead? Creating bazillion CRUDs? Serializing/Deserializing JSON?
throw1235435 1y ago
Pretty much. Everything is about prompt now. Its either "You aren't prompting right", or "Need to prompt harder/more accurately/etc". The only skill that matters now seems to be using a paid vendor product (pick your favorite proprietary AI chatbot) - which isn't really a long term skill at all nor really all that technical. Whether its true or not it is besides the point - its getting kind of boring and it seems to be drowning everything else. It feels at least from the outside like a profession that used to require intelligence/skill, and something creative problem solving just went downhill fast. The anti-SWE crowd (e.g VC's, AI devs, CEO's, etc) seems to be winning the argument at the moment as to what the future will bring in these forums. Every podcast I hear its always software engineering that is mentioned as the industry to be disrupted away. Who would of thought the job of the future only 5 years ago would be the first to go? Hope I'm wrong, but it seems the AI crowd's main target atm.

We are teaching programmers how to prompt engineer instead of programming… What a world we live in.

by vrnvu 1y ago

We are teaching programmers how to prompt engineer instead of programming… What a world we live in.

awb 1y ago

Your native language is now a programming language.

1_08iu 1y ago
If people feel that they need to learn different language patterns in order to communicate effectively in their native language with an LLM then I'm not sure if I agree. I think that if your native language truly was a programming language then there wouldn't be any need for prompt engineering. Regardless, I think that programmers are quite well-suited to the methods described in the article, but only in the same way that programmers are generally better at Googling things than the average person; they can imagine what the system needs to see in order to produce the result they want even if that isn't necessarily a natural description of their problem.
- awb 1y ago
  As an engineer, if you’ve had a skilled Project Manager you’ve receive detailed, thoughtful “prompts” on how to complete a project that leads to a shared understanding. But with unskilled Project Managers you might receive a vague “prompt” that leads to ambiguity and misalignment. And Project Managers can go through training or read books on how to effectively “prompt” (aka communicate) more effectively. When I say that your native language is now a programming language, I mean that you are now the Project Manager, and the code is generated automatically. But because the code is auto-generated, the focus shifts towards the “prompt” as the first and potentially only step in generating code.

wiseowise 1y ago

What shall we teach them instead? Creating bazillion CRUDs? Serializing/Deserializing JSON?

throw1235435 1y ago

Pretty much. Everything is about prompt now. Its either "You aren't prompting right", or "Need to prompt harder/more accurately/etc". The only skill that matters now seems to be using a paid vendor product (pick your favorite proprietary AI chatbot) - which isn't really a long term skill at all nor really all that technical. Whether its true or not it is besides the point - its getting kind of boring and it seems to be drowning everything else. It feels at least from the outside like a profession that used to require intelligence/skill, and something creative problem solving just went downhill fast. The anti-SWE crowd (e.g VC's, AI devs, CEO's, etc) seems to be winning the argument at the moment as to what the future will bring in these forums. Every podcast I hear its always software engineering that is mentioned as the industry to be disrupted away. Who would of thought the job of the future only 5 years ago would be the first to go? Hope I'm wrong, but it seems the AI crowd's main target atm.