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People (especially people who don't have a lot of hands on tech experience, or students who also aren't into building things) get the sense that writing softwar

People (especially people who don't have a lot of hands on tech experience, or students who also aren't into building things) get the sense that writing software requires learning a lot of arcane tools. And the idea is to promise that anyone who can write a specification should be able to make software (yes, handwaving away the learning to specify well, which is a real skill with many dependent skills). This was the promise of no-code, and then they realized that the no-code system (in addition to usually being limited in power) is actually complex and requires specialized learning, and more of that the more powerful the system is. The LLM will replace SWEs approach is another take on that, because you don't need to learn a system, you prompt in natural language, and the model knows how to interface with the underlying system so you don't have to. In that sense, vibe coding is already the culmination of this goal (despite weaknesses such as maintainability issues). I've seen it written that the main reason managers tend to want to get rid of SWEs is because they don't understand how to interface with them. Using an LLM solves that problem, because you don't need a nerd to operate it.

drekipus 1y ago
Just use LLM to interface with nerds /s Oh god please kill me
- junek 1y ago
  Please step away from the lathe
skydhash 1y ago
> I've seen it written that the main reason managers tend to want to get rid of SWEs is because they don't understand how to interface with them That’s because software is nebulous enough that you can get away with promising the moon to customers/boss, but in the next meeting, you’re given a reality check by the SWEs. And then you realize the mess you’re thrown everyone in. Managers knows how to interface with SWEs well (people interface with professionals all the time). Most just hates going back to the engineers to get real answers when they fancy themselves as products owners.
MangoToupe 1y ago
> I've seen it written that the main reason managers tend to want to get rid of SWEs is because they don't understand how to interface with them. SWEs are also about the most expensive kind of employee imaginable. I imagine that’s incentive enough.
wqaatwt 1y ago
> Using an LLM solves that problem, because you don't need a nerd to operate it. Until you do. LLMs are great ar building prototypes but at some point if you don’t know what you’ll doing you’ll end up with an unmaintainable mess and you won’t have anyone to fix it. I mean LLMs perhaps are capable of doing that too but they still need to be guided by people who are capable of understanding their output. Being able to reduce the number of engineers that you need by e.g. 80% would still be a great deal though.
deterministic 1y ago
> they don't understand how to interface with them In other words, they are not good managers. A good manager should be able to work with all kinds of people with different backgrounds and personalities.

drekipus 1y ago

Just use LLM to interface with nerds /s Oh god please kill me

junek 1y ago
Please step away from the lathe

skydhash 1y ago

> I've seen it written that the main reason managers tend to want to get rid of SWEs is because they don't understand how to interface with them That’s because software is nebulous enough that you can get away with promising the moon to customers/boss, but in the next meeting, you’re given a reality check by the SWEs. And then you realize the mess you’re thrown everyone in. Managers knows how to interface with SWEs well (people interface with professionals all the time). Most just hates going back to the engineers to get real answers when they fancy themselves as products owners.

MangoToupe 1y ago

> I've seen it written that the main reason managers tend to want to get rid of SWEs is because they don't understand how to interface with them. SWEs are also about the most expensive kind of employee imaginable. I imagine that’s incentive enough.

wqaatwt 1y ago

> Using an LLM solves that problem, because you don't need a nerd to operate it. Until you do. LLMs are great ar building prototypes but at some point if you don’t know what you’ll doing you’ll end up with an unmaintainable mess and you won’t have anyone to fix it. I mean LLMs perhaps are capable of doing that too but they still need to be guided by people who are capable of understanding their output. Being able to reduce the number of engineers that you need by e.g. 80% would still be a great deal though.

deterministic 1y ago

> they don't understand how to interface with them In other words, they are not good managers. A good manager should be able to work with all kinds of people with different backgrounds and personalities.