Most of us in the field have to produce software for money, and the economics of that have shifted to the point where LLM use is table stakes. Programming by hand is now an idle curiosity, a leisure-time activity.

I can’t find a job at all. Hundreds of applications sent, all thrown in the trash.

To not use an LLM at all for software engineering? That’s just a joke. You can also deliver food with a bicycle. Good luck making a living doing that.