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> The developers who stand out will be the ones who understand the systems. That has always been true. AI doesn't change it. It just rearranges some elements t

by kayo_20211030 21d ago

> The developers who stand out will be the ones who understand the systems. That has always been true. AI doesn't change it. It just rearranges some elements that come ahead of that understanding. The volume and velocity are challenges but the understanding and judgement is what separates the good and the great. BTW: "systems" in my world include not just the technology components but also the humans who operate, adjust and manage all the pieces, and the processes that control it all.

cyanydeez 21d ago
It is an interesting diametric inversion: before AI, you had people designing good code from the ground up for the love of the game and you had businesses cutting corner due to budgets. Now you have AI infilitrating both sectors, and well. Ok, so it's probably going to be the same problem. With AI, I can now explore more docs and more tests, and push out into the edge cases, all because I've got a local LLM and have no real worry about electricity costs. Businesses on the other hand, will be addicted to LLMs and will have token budgets and will soon enough go back to just good enough software designs.
- kayo_20211030 21d ago
  I think so. Two traditional and _almost_ disjoint sets, the technology realm and the business realm, will start to (be forced to?) have much greater overlap. There have always been political battles along the boundary, but this upcoming one will be bloody and long. The current structures and control mechanisms will have to change appreciably for any of the promises of AI to be realized.
- zer00eyz 21d ago
  Im not sure thats why businesses are straying from more LLM use. Finding where AI is moving the needle has been hard, if not impossible. Because code, by it self has never moved the needle. It's the product, what the code does that moves the needle. Building the wrong thing, faster, is just a speed run to a legacy code base. That isnt your development teams fault.
  - kayo_20211030 21d ago
    > It's the product, what the code does that moves the needle. Never a truer word said. It's the only thing that moves the needle. I'm not sure that businesses are straying from AI. I reckon everyone's on board. but AI is now accessible to the business folks - callow as they are to the requirements of the technology components - and it's bound to run up against the technology folks trying to wave them off when enthusiastic excesses threaten what the code does, now or in the future. There'll be adjustments on both sides.
    - zer00eyz 21d ago
      > I'm not sure that businesses are straying from AI. https://olakai.ai/blog/uber-ai-budget-blowout/ https://olakai.ai/blog/uber-ai-budget-blowout/ https://www.404media.co/companies-are-throttling-employees-ai-use-because-its-too-expensive/ https://www.404media.co/companies-are-throttling-employees-a... Clamping down might be a better choice of words here. I think what most of the HN set misses is that there is a ton of code being written that they just don't see. It's code that prior to AI never would have existed. That expensive programing resource (this is most of us) doesn't have time to go whip up those time saving scripts for the people in accounting and marketing who need them. And it's not like these people are gonna gab that they saved themselves 3 hours a week with some basic python. They are gonna take that time back and shut up about it.
      - cyanydeez 21d ago
        I'm fairly certain 90% of github downtime is that "corporate dark code written by ai"
mpalczewski 21d ago
volume and velocity used to stand out, you could get very far with it, and if you had built a career on that(I had), your career is now over or you pivot. Volume and velocity also had it's own quality and over time you did so much that the reps just by themselves got you to the next level. None of that is true anymore. Some skills became important and some skills became useless. this industry has always moved fast and this is just another round of adapt or die.

cyanydeez 21d ago

It is an interesting diametric inversion: before AI, you had people designing good code from the ground up for the love of the game and you had businesses cutting corner due to budgets. Now you have AI infilitrating both sectors, and well. Ok, so it's probably going to be the same problem. With AI, I can now explore more docs and more tests, and push out into the edge cases, all because I've got a local LLM and have no real worry about electricity costs. Businesses on the other hand, will be addicted to LLMs and will have token budgets and will soon enough go back to just good enough software designs.

kayo_20211030 21d ago
I think so. Two traditional and _almost_ disjoint sets, the technology realm and the business realm, will start to (be forced to?) have much greater overlap. There have always been political battles along the boundary, but this upcoming one will be bloody and long. The current structures and control mechanisms will have to change appreciably for any of the promises of AI to be realized.
zer00eyz 21d ago
Im not sure thats why businesses are straying from more LLM use. Finding where AI is moving the needle has been hard, if not impossible. Because code, by it self has never moved the needle. It's the product, what the code does that moves the needle. Building the wrong thing, faster, is just a speed run to a legacy code base. That isnt your development teams fault.
- kayo_20211030 21d ago
  > It's the product, what the code does that moves the needle. Never a truer word said. It's the only thing that moves the needle. I'm not sure that businesses are straying from AI. I reckon everyone's on board. but AI is now accessible to the business folks - callow as they are to the requirements of the technology components - and it's bound to run up against the technology folks trying to wave them off when enthusiastic excesses threaten what the code does, now or in the future. There'll be adjustments on both sides.
  - zer00eyz 21d ago
    > I'm not sure that businesses are straying from AI. https://olakai.ai/blog/uber-ai-budget-blowout/ https://olakai.ai/blog/uber-ai-budget-blowout/ https://www.404media.co/companies-are-throttling-employees-ai-use-because-its-too-expensive/ https://www.404media.co/companies-are-throttling-employees-a... Clamping down might be a better choice of words here. I think what most of the HN set misses is that there is a ton of code being written that they just don't see. It's code that prior to AI never would have existed. That expensive programing resource (this is most of us) doesn't have time to go whip up those time saving scripts for the people in accounting and marketing who need them. And it's not like these people are gonna gab that they saved themselves 3 hours a week with some basic python. They are gonna take that time back and shut up about it.
    - cyanydeez 21d ago
      I'm fairly certain 90% of github downtime is that "corporate dark code written by ai"

mpalczewski 21d ago

volume and velocity used to stand out, you could get very far with it, and if you had built a career on that(I had), your career is now over or you pivot. Volume and velocity also had it's own quality and over time you did so much that the reps just by themselves got you to the next level. None of that is true anymore. Some skills became important and some skills became useless. this industry has always moved fast and this is just another round of adapt or die.