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Comment by guitarlimeo | Hacker News Reader

> I think (businesswise) the need for actual software programmer skills is 90% out in a few years I think, and product lead etc people will be favored more as they have also more people skills.

"Instead, think like an owner." exactly, the traditional software engineer role has ceased to exist and now you must think like an indie entrepreneur and own things. There will be less than 10% of current engineers checking the code in the near future.

> Do you want an LLM to autonomously fly a commercial plane without any pilots in 2030?

No but I also didn't want LLMs to make decisions for the defense department in USA yet here we are.

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> "Instead, think like an owner." exactly, the traditional software engineer role has ceased to exist and now you must think like an indie entrepreneur and own things. There will be less than 10% of current engineers checking the code in the near future.

It will still exist, but far less of them and it includes the reduction of SWEs from junior to staff-level.

Someone will always be held liable if an LLM runs autonomously and out of control which will cost them a lot of money for damages.

> No but I also didn't want LLMs to make decisions for the defense department in USA yet here we are.

That was someone else (another human) that made that decision to use LLMs there, and why certain countries don't trust the US any more, which is my point with both liability and trust in highly critical situations.

I think we just both agree on our views? I don't think all software engineering is going to die and especially those who can be held liable can keep their jobs, but otherwise I think the profession is commodified so much that anyone can do it in 5 years - e.g. "Claude tell me a prompt to use to make this software faster and less buggy"

Sigh. I never want to be a product people or an owner. Fortunately I’m over 40 and don’t have to work for very long. Good luck folks. I’ll resort to recreational programming when I half retire.

I'm almost 40, but nowhere close to being able to retire and enjoy the rest of my life, which is, I hope, going to be at least another 40 years. It's going to be a fun ride

I wish you good luck. On my side I actually don’t have the amount of money to retire comfortably. I’ll just retire uncomfortably, like going back to the younger days when I spent 1000 bucks a month for everything.

I mean, you do own your work in a way... it's not so different.

Yeah…but it’s a completely different mindset. I’m not saying mine is better —- actually probably worse, but I’m who I am.

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