I've been noticing the pattern among the kind of people who like/dislike AI/agentic coding:
1) people who haven't programmed in a while for whatever reason (became executives, took a break from the industry, etc)
2) people who started programming in the last 15 or so years, which also corresponds with the time when programming became a desirable career for money/lifestyle/prestige (chosen out of not knowing what they want, rather than knowing)
3) people who never cared for programming itself, more into product-building
To make the distinction clear, here are example groups unlikely to like AI dev:
1) people who programmed for ~25 years (to this day)
2) people who genuinely enjoy the process of programming (regardless of when they started)
I'm not sure if I'm correct in this observation, and I'm not impugning anyone in the first groups.
I'd agree with this assessment overall. It's got flavors of an age-old debate that comes up any time a new efficiency arises between the people who value the efficiency and those who value the process (eat a nutrition bar vs. cook a meal, drive instead of walk, etc.)
People quickly divide into camps, but I think the healthiest (albeit boring) view is that the tech is good for certain efficiencies, and you have to choose if you prefer the speed you gain over joy of the activity, which probably varies day-to-day. I love the walk to my local grocery store in the mornings because I enjoy the sunshine and exercise. I'm getting in my car the second I'm in a rush though. In the same way I love programming and software engineering, so if I've got the time I'm going to dig into coding. Under deadline to do an annoying legacy migration from an obscure language? Hello Claude Code :)
1) people who haven't programmed in a while for whatever reason (became executives, took a break from the industry, etc)
2) people who started programming in the last 15 or so years, which also corresponds with the time when programming became a desirable career for money/lifestyle/prestige (chosen out of not knowing what they want, rather than knowing)
3) people who never cared for programming itself, more into product-building
To make the distinction clear, here are example groups unlikely to like AI dev:
1) people who programmed for ~25 years (to this day)
2) people who genuinely enjoy the process of programming (regardless of when they started)
I'm not sure if I'm correct in this observation, and I'm not impugning anyone in the first groups.
People quickly divide into camps, but I think the healthiest (albeit boring) view is that the tech is good for certain efficiencies, and you have to choose if you prefer the speed you gain over joy of the activity, which probably varies day-to-day. I love the walk to my local grocery store in the mornings because I enjoy the sunshine and exercise. I'm getting in my car the second I'm in a rush though. In the same way I love programming and software engineering, so if I've got the time I'm going to dig into coding. Under deadline to do an annoying legacy migration from an obscure language? Hello Claude Code :)