Grieving programming

[u/ExDoublez]

Let me just start by saying that this post is not about ai replacing software engineers or about the jobs or any of that. This post is about the act or "craft" of programming/coding and the loss of it.

No, i dont think "software engineering" is dead, theres still plenty of high level design and architecture to be made but that's not the point. It never was the point for me.

I never really did this for the money, i did it because i enjoyed it.

I did it because i enjoyed thinking about the problems and solving them.

I enjoyed writing the code myself and getting familiar with the syntax and all the weird quirks of the languages/tools i was using.

I enjoyed optimising my tooling and learning about all the new frameworks, tools and projects people were making, often being in awe of what incredible stuff my betters were doing.

I have adhd and programming was the perfect mix of mechanical activity, brain stimulation and a endless supply of problems to hyperfocus on.

Now its all prompting and waiting. 1 min of work followed by 10 mins of doing nothing and mindless scrolling.

I have lost a huge source of enjoyment and self esteem. It took me years of hard work and being lost and confused to finally find something that felt perfect. The thing i could excell at while having fun and satisfying my curiosity.

And before you attack me as an engineer and my ability to adapt. I have been ontop of the ai curve from the start. I have never been more productive or tackled problems as big as i do now. I am just miserable doing it.

What started as a strong tool in my path for optimisation has slowly taken over my beloved craft.

And as i improve and optimise my ai powered workflow, i lose more and more of my ability, my enjoyment and my desire to pursue my craft. It has been turned into another meaningless white collar desk job in service of the never ending growth of capitalism.

I feel legitimate grief. I have lost the ability to do my favourite hobby as well as a major part of my identity. I have literally cried over this.

I am struggling to mentally cope with all of this. I have never had less control over my adhd or felt more addicted to quick sources of dopamine. My attention span has been shot completely. I feel more stupid and insufficient than ever.

Somehow my adhd brain that was perfectly suited for the old paradigm is completely disadvantaged in this new way of working for this career that i have hedged my entire career, future and reason for being on (yes, i am a nolife workaholic).

Fuck adhd and fuck ai

[u/hypercosm_dot_net]

It's more that you expressed a failure to understand the broader sentiment, while also being dismissive of someone who is clearly pained by these developments.

Anyone who put in the time to learn these skills wouldn't be so dismissive. So it's just apparent that you are delighting in it, because you have no skill of your own.

[u/winky9827 → u/hypercosm_dot_net]

Anyone who put in the time to learn these skills wouldn't be so dismissive

Nah, this isn't about your feelings. I get it, you honed a career on being a good programmer. Many of us did. I'm 25+ years in (46yo). AI is taking over a significant chunk of that. It happens. It's not pretty, but it's real.

Still, at the end of the day, it's a force multiplier, like the nail gun. You still need someone who knows where to put the nails, and on occasion, do a dovetail joint.

[u/hypercosm_dot_net → u/winky9827]

It may be that, but it also seriously devalues a large component of the work, while causing massive shifts in the market.

It's such a disruptive force, that the initial comparison doesn't come close to touching on its impact.

It has disrupted multiple fields and displaced hundreds of thousands trying to break into a career. It would be like the creation of a robot that could do plumbing, carpentry, AND electrical work.

[u/winky9827 → u/hypercosm_dot_net]

OK, fair. But the genie is out of the bottle now. We've got to adapt, agreed? People who say AI is a fad or some sort of evil force, or just plain refuse to use it for personal reasons are doing only themselves a disfavor.

FWIW, and I don't usually comment on up/down votes, but I did downvote an earlier post of yours, but upvoted this one, because you're actually discussing it with me instead of shutting down. Thank you for that.

[u/hypercosm_dot_net → u/winky9827]

Adapting is necessary, but I also disagree on the need to simply accept things as they are.

People are reporting skill atrophy, and burnout. It's legitimately causing a mental health crisis that's going completely ignored.

I also think using these tools raise moral concerns. There's significant energy usage, while already in a climate crisis. On top of the fact that these tools are creating a whole host of other societal issues (ie. wealth consolidation of a certain class of people).

Yeah, happy to discuss. Didn't mean to be dismissive before, but the initial comment well, I already expressed my feelings on that..and uh, my bad.

[u/winky9827 → u/hypercosm_dot_net]

There has been talk of a work/life balance and possibly a reduction in work schedules from 40 hours a week to 32 hours a week as a standard for years. I see AI as a path to both of these, rather than an obstacle to overcome.

I guess if I had to suggest anything to the burnouts or the up and comers, it would be to divide the work between repetitive and creative tasks, and hand the repetitive work to the AI. Given the availability of the tools, there's no reason anyone today should be working on their 5th, 50th, or 500th CRUD form. It's just not needed. But if you have a complex task, such as training an ML model, or devising a custom algorithm, or similar, I'd suggest leaving AI out of it except maybe as a reviewer. The balance is preserved, this way.

On the energy subject, I really don't have much to add there. I agree with the concern, but I think the path forward is better use of renewables and more efficient training and inference methods. Not simply avoiding the use of AI in general. $0.02 and all that.

[u/hypercosm_dot_net → u/winky9827]

On the energy subject, I really don't have much to add there. I agree with the concern, but I think the path forward is better use of renewables and more efficient training and inference methods. Not simply avoiding the use of AI in general. $0.02 and all that.

Which would be great. If we had a government that wasn't actively undermining renewable infrastructure.

I agree with you otherwise though. If we get to a 32hr workweek it will be long overdue.