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Janitor Engineers [0] are already a thing? Damn. Also, all links in this article starting from the "Why AI code fails at scale" section are dead for some reason

Janitor Engineers [0] are already a thing? Damn. Also, all links in this article starting from the "Why AI code fails at scale" section are dead for some reason, even though it was written only 5 days ago. That raises some questions... EDIT: Not trying to offend anyone with this [0], I've actually had the same half-joking retirement plan since the dawn of vibe coding, to become an "all-organic-code" consultant who untangles and cleans up AI-generated mess.

flir 1y ago
I think specialising in brownfield has always been a thing. If anything, it's greenfield that's the rarity.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  Thinking of retired COBOL programmers that still have a market...
  - scorpioxy 1y ago
    I wonder if COBOL projects these days, being brownfield by nature, are less political and stressful than brownfield web development projects.
  - jlokier 1y ago
    There's still a market, but when I looked into COBOL work out of curiosity (I've never been anywhere near it in real life), the salaries I found were surprisingly low, compared with common modern languages. Perhaps the old adage "it's getting hard to find X employees [at the price we are willing to pay]" applies. That surprised me because I've seen articles and heard podcasts for years where they've said COBOL programmers are well paid due to scarcity, though never quoting amounts.
- sseagull 1y ago
  I’ve always found the pioneer, settler, town planner model to be a great way of thinking about this. Successful, long-term projects or organizations eventually can use all 3 types. Maybe vibe coding replaces some pioneering work, but that still leaves a lot for settlers to do. (I admit I’m generally in the settler category) https://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-town-planners-and.html?m=1 https://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-to...

flir 1y ago

I think specialising in brownfield has always been a thing. If anything, it's greenfield that's the rarity.

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
Thinking of retired COBOL programmers that still have a market...
- scorpioxy 1y ago
  I wonder if COBOL projects these days, being brownfield by nature, are less political and stressful than brownfield web development projects.
- jlokier 1y ago
  There's still a market, but when I looked into COBOL work out of curiosity (I've never been anywhere near it in real life), the salaries I found were surprisingly low, compared with common modern languages. Perhaps the old adage "it's getting hard to find X employees [at the price we are willing to pay]" applies. That surprised me because I've seen articles and heard podcasts for years where they've said COBOL programmers are well paid due to scarcity, though never quoting amounts.
sseagull 1y ago
I’ve always found the pioneer, settler, town planner model to be a great way of thinking about this. Successful, long-term projects or organizations eventually can use all 3 types. Maybe vibe coding replaces some pioneering work, but that still leaves a lot for settlers to do. (I admit I’m generally in the settler category) https://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-town-planners-and.html?m=1 https://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-to...