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Comment by maerF0x0 | Hacker News Reader

Just like people still use typewriters, make their own clothes, or cook themselves dinner etc. We can still hand craft code. There may always be a market for it too, like Rolls Royce.

However, I agree with OP, that the career in the main has changed. The cost of an engineer is probably going to fall precipitously once we hit saturation point. (I believe we're running on a backlog of software that was previously economically infeasible to make right now). IDK how long that will take (10 months? 10 years? 10 decades?)

But I do think LoC is going to fall in price to be like rice, a lot of the world just gives it away for free (to it's poor) because it's so plentiful. If AGI hits we may see many other goods follow.

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> We can still hand craft code.

We not only can, but we should. It will result in a much higher quality product, which works better, is easier to maintain, and has fewer bugs. Despite the hype, LLMs are not actually good at writing code.

i dont think we'll ever saturate the amount of software there is in the world unless we get some sort of scifi superintelligence scenario

Software allows us to build essentially infinite abstractions with infinite room to run. cheaper and better models released to the world means higher competition which drives up the cost for talent

however i think the value of 'hand crafted code' drops to zero unless we convince consumers to purchase software as a status symbol like rolls royces (seems unlikely, unless there is a concentrated marketing effort)

hand crafted code:

I think of it more like framework laptops, light phone etc which exist due to a fundamental decision to be a certain way and buyers value that fundamental feature.

I feel it’s important to point out that the word “value” has different meanings to different people.

I think that the value of hand written code has gone up, and will continue to do so, as a direct consequence of anyone now being able to generate code with LLMs.

That’s how I feel, in any case. Win my heart with a euphoric 3am commit message, typos left in.

I think it's heavily dependent on what type of dev role it is. There has always been a split between the startups and the corporate world.

In the case of working at startups, I'd agree that you don't (and never really needed to) hire extra devs.

Since this is HN, I know most hate corporate jobs, but that's where all the stability is and where AI is struggling to find footing. This rejection of AI puts a sorely needed spotlight on the cultural divide, and much of SV bet way too big on the wrong side of this misunderstanding.

> where AI is struggling to find footing

As in struggling to find acceptance by the rule makers?

or As in struggling to be capable of delivering value?

(just asking to try and understand your reply)

It's a "yes" for both cases.

> Just like people still use typewriters, make their own clothes, or cook themselves dinner etc.

One of these things is not like the others. Your silicon valley bubble privilege is showing.

Your privilege is showing by only saying one of those stand out.

At least with keyboards you can say they actually replaced typewriters but the other two are just paying someone else to do the same labor.

the contrast intended was the level of automation removing the old way of doing things.

I'm sorry, but no, you don't get to lecture me about my privilege when I'm responding a grotesque coddled techbro pontificating about how Doordash has solved the problem of eating to the point that cooking is some quaint cute whimsical thing that people do as a hobby on the same level as owning a typewriter.

This reminds me of an HN comment years ago where an engineer at some big tech company was at a loss as to how he would get snacks/drinks as the company was ending its free/open kitchen policy (the obvious answer being to just go to the store and pack stuff the night before).

That was the day I realized being a software engineer from greater America is totally different than those from SV. The coddling was (is?) unreal.

Sure I do, the only difference between the two is which society considers normal. Your argument basically boils down to how dare these spoiled kids operate outside of the Overton Window of acceptable externalizable labor I was raised to consider normal. It wouldn't even be two generations ago where someone could write this exact rant about sewing. And today it is relegated to a quaint hobby. The same thing happened with car maintenance and food preservation within living memory.

Don't get me wrong, I partake in the group hazing ritual of guys who can't cook—it's good fun. But on the tiniest bit of introspection it's pretty obvious it's well on the way to becoming a hobby. We're already 90% of the way there with the hallowing out of the 'middle' between glorified warming prepared foods and enthusiast home cooks. The class divide isn't really cooks/non-cooks anymore it's DoorDash vs grocery store freezer section. Sad but not unexpected.

lmao pathetic

edit: to offer a slightly more substantive reply I will offer the Merriam Webster definition of cooking, which is "to prepare food for eating by a heating process" which applies just as much to warming preprepared or frozen foods as it does to enthusiast home cooks. I agree with you that the class divide is exemplified by the extremes of rich idiots who can just order Doordash for every meal and people who rely on the grocery store freezer section. The difference is that the people in the grocery store freezer section are actually cooking their food, while the Doordash people aren't, and the former category of people is substantially larger than the latter.

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