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Comment by latexr | Hacker News Reader

> those who love delivering value/solutions.

This is such marketing speak. The words mean nothing, they’re just a vague amalgamation of feelings. “Vibes”, if you will.

If you “love delivering value and solutions”, go donate and volunteer at a food bank, there’s no need for code at any point.

> The happy consumer and the polished product

More marketing speak. If you are using LLMs to write your code, by definition your product isn’t “polished”. Polishing means pouring over every detail with care to ensure perfection. Letting an LLM spit out code you just accept is not it.

The word you’re looking for is “shiny”, meaning that it looks good at a glance but may or may not be worth anything.

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What term would you use? You can't say "a finished product" because it may never be finished, but something that other people find valuable seems like a good definition.

I get the argument. Sometimes I really enjoyed the actual act of finally figuring out a way to solve a problem in code, but most of the time it was a means to an end, and I'm achieving that end far more often now via AI tooling.

> What term would you use?

I’m not fussed about the exact term, as long as it points to something real and at semantic equal footing with the alternative.

Note how they described two areas of focus (what you “love”): “coding” and “delivering value/solutions”.

You can be a “coder” or a “programmer”, no one is a “deliverer of value/solutions”.

“Coding” is explicit, it’s an activity you can point at. “Delivering values/solutions” is vague, it’s corporate speak to sound positive without committing to anything. It doesn’t represent anything specific or tangible. It doesn’t even reference software, though it’s what it is, to make it sound broader than what it is. You could say “using and releasing apps”, for example, thought proponents may feel that’s reductive (but then again, so is “coding”).

Again, what’s in contention here isn’t the exact term, but making sure it’s one that actually means something to humans, instead of marketing speak.

> This is such marketing speak. The words mean nothing, they’re just a vague amalgamation of feelings. “Vibes”, if you will.

I actually think this reveals more about you than you might realise. A _lot_ of people enjoy being able to help people resolve problems with their skills. Delivering value is marketing speak, but it's specifically helping people in ways that's valuable.

A lot of people who work in software are internally motivated by this. The act of producing code may (or may not be) also enjoyable, but the ultimate internal motivation is to hand over something that helps others (and the external motivation is obviously dollars and cents).

There is also a subset of people who enjoy the process of writing code for its own sake, but it's a minority of developers (and dropping all the time as tooling - including LLMs - opens development to more people).

> If you are using LLMs to write your code, by definition your product isn’t “polished”. Polishing means pouring over every detail with care to ensure perfection.

You can say the same thing about libraries, interpreters, OSes, compilers, microcode, assembly. If you're not flipping bits directly in CPU registers, your not pouring over every little detail to ensure perfection. The only difference between you and the vibe coder who's never written a single LoC is the level of abstraction you're working at.

Edit:

> If you “love delivering value and solutions”, go donate and volunteer at a food bank, there’s no need for code at any point.

I also think this says maybe a lot about you, also, as many people also donate their time and efforts to others. I think it may be worth some self-reflection to see whether your cynicism has become nihilism.

I have spent over a decade working primarily on open-source, for free. I still do it, thought it’s no longer my primary activity. A huge chunk of that time was helping and tutoring people. That I still do and I’m better at it; I still regularly get thank you messages from people I assisted or who use the tools I build.

I did use to volunteer at a food bank, but I used that example only because it’s quick and simple, no shade on anyone who doesn’t. I stopped for logistical reasons when COVID hit.

I have used the set of skills I’m god at to help several people with their goals (most were friends, some were acquaintances) who later told me I changed their life for the better. A few I no longer speak to, and that’s OK.

Oh, and before I became a developer, I worked in an area which was very close to marketing. Which was the reason I stopped.

So yeah, I know pretty well what I’m talking about. Helping others is an explicit goal of mine that I derive satisfaction from. I’d never describe it as “delivering value/solutions” and neither would any of the people I ever helped, because that’s vague corporate soulless speech.

>I have spent over a decade working primarily on open-source, for free.

How do you feel about the fact that OpenAi et al have slurped up all your code and are now regurgitating it for $20/month?

I don’t think they should’ve done that or continue to do it without consent, and I don’t limit that to code. Books, images, everything else applies the same.

I also don’t think “but it wouldn’t be viable otherwise” is a valid defence.

I don’t see what that has to do with the conversation, though. If your point is about the free/$20, that doesn’t really factor into my answer.

> So yeah, I know pretty well what I’m talking about. Helping others is an explicit goal of mine that I derive satisfaction from. I’d never describe it as “delivering value/solutions”, that’s vague corporate soulless speech.

While I commend your voluntary efforts, I don't think it lends any more weight to your original comment. In fact, I think this comment highlights a deep cynicism and I think a profound misunderstanding of the internal motivations of others and why "delivering value" resonates with others, but rings hollow to you.

In the end, this debate is less about LLMs, and more about how different developers identify. If you consider software to be a craft, then mastery of the skillset, discipline, and authorship of the code is key to you.

If you consider software to be a means to an end, then the importance lies in the impact the software has on others, irrespective to how it's produced.

While you are clearly in the former camp, it is undeniable that impact is determined entirely by what the software enables for others, not by how it was produced. Most users never see the code, never care how it was written, and judge it only by whether it solves their problem.

You’re failing to understand the complaint is about the hollow term being used to sound grandiose.

A street sweeper “delivers value” in the form of a clean street. A lunch lady at a school “delivers solutions” in the form of reducing hunger in children.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do something for others, the criticism is of the vague terminology. The marketing speak. I’ve said that so many times, I’d hope that’d been clear.

> While you are clearly in the former camp

You’re starting from wrong assumptions. No, I’m not “in the former camp”, I find the whole premise to be a false dichotomy to begin with. Reality is a spectrum, not a binary choice. It’s perfectly congruent to believe a great product for customers is the goal, and that the way to achieve it is through care and deliberate attention to the things you do.

> You’re failing to understand the complaint is about the hollow term being used to sound grandiose.

This isn’t a critique of language - it’s a category error. You’re confusing the mechanism with the purpose.

In your examples, a street sweeper or lunch lady (Google says this is an antiquated US term for canteen worker?) do indeed deliver value, clean streets and nourished students. That's the value they're paid to provide. Those are the outcomes we care about, and whether the sweeper uses a broom or Bucher Citycat is only of interest in that one allows the sweeper to provide more value at lower cost, eg more metres of clean road per dollar.

The same is true of the canteen worker, who may use Rationales and bains marie to serve more hot meals at lower cost than cooking each meal individually.

> You don’t “deliver solutions”, you write software (or have it written for you).

Saying you "write software", not deliver solutions actually indicates that you don't understand the profession you're in. It mistakes the process for the outcome. Writing code is one means among many for achieving an outcome, and if the same outcome could be achieved by the business without software, the software would be dropped instantly. Not because care doesn’t matter, but because the purpose was never the code itself.

> It’s perfectly congruent to believe a great product for customers is the goal, and that the way to achieve it is through care and deliberate attention to the things you do.

But according to you, care and deliberate attention (software as craft) are the only way. An absolutist position. But most software that matters is imperfect, build over time, touched by many hands, and full of compromises. Yet it still delivers enormous value. That’s evidence that outcomes, not purity of process, is what delivers value and defines success in the real world.

> But according to you, care and deliberate attention (software as craft) are the only way. An absolutist position.

No! That is not what I’m saying! How can you argue my position is an absolute when I just explicitly described it as a spectrum?!

However, I do believe you’re arguing in good faith, I just don’t think we’re on the same page. I wish we were, as while I think we might still disagree, I also believe we’d have an interesting conversation. Probably more so in person.

Unfortunately, I have to go get some work done so I’m unable to continue as of now. Still, instead of leaving you hanging, I wanted to thank you for the respectful conversation as well as your patience and I believe genuine effort in trying to understand my position.

> Writing code is one means among many for achieving an outcome, and if the same outcome could be achieved by the business without software, the software would be dropped instantly. Not because care doesn’t matter, but because the purpose was never the code itself.

Early in my career I was called in a number of times to write software for some business process. Many times after talking to the users and understanding the process, I would recommend against any software. It wasn't needed, or the time could be spent in better ways (AI is likely changing that calculation though). IIRC, my title was even 'Solutions Provider' or some such. I love writing software, but it's always been a means to an end for me.

Nonsense. Features are requested from me, I deliver them to the customer, the customer is happy and pays me. I deliver solutions and the customer deems them to be value for their business... What else am I supposed to call that?

I'm extremely diligent around vetting all code in my repo's. Everything is thoroughly tested and follows the same standards that were in my codebase before the invention of LLM's. I'm not "vibe coding". You're making assumptions because of your negative emotional reaction to LLM's.

Yes yes, so does a street sweeper. Someone pays them because the road is dirty, and they use a broom to deliver the solution of a cleaner street, which is of value to the user.

Do you see why that’s marketing speak? You’re using vague terms which can be applied to anything. It avoids commitment and makes whatever you do seem grandiose. That’s marketing.

A few years ago, every app developer and designer was a “story teller”.

You don’t “deliver solutions”, you write software (or have it written for you).

>Yes yes, so does a street sweeper. Someone pays them because the road is dirty, and they use a broom to deliver the solution of a cleaner street, which is of value to the user.

Yes, it's exactly the same. Is your problem the fact that this gets you off the high horse?

No, not at all. There are people who love coding for the sake of it, they are passionate about the technology and would be doing it whether it was their career or not. They do it for fun. We both write software, but I derive pleasure from making money from products, they derive pleasure from the writing itself. If I could no longer sell products and make money I wouldn’t do any coding. You don’t think there is any distinction between them and I?

> but I derive pleasure from making money

I thought you loved “delivering value/solutions” and that “the happy consumer and the polished product is what gives [you] satisfaction”. Thank you for admitting what you care about is the money. That was clear from the marketing speak.

You’re being ridiculous. This is my job, I love it. It’s not purely about the money. I enjoy building, maintaining, supporting products, it’s just that without the selling part I wouldn’t be doing it, I would have to do another job and I would have greater preferences for spending my free time. Almost everyone ultimately works for money, that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t like their job. Come on, you know this…

The distinction is obvious and you’re clearly just expressing an emotional reaction.

It’s not marketing speak, but it’s rarely 100 percent one or the other.

> More marketing speak. If you are using LLMs to write your code, by definition your product isn’t “polished”.

This doesn’t make any sense. Polished to who? The end user? You can absolutely use AI to polish the user experience. Whether coding by hand or AI the most important aspect of polish is having someone who cares.

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