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rant
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AI is changing the landscape for professional development. AI accelerates tasks that are unfamiliar by acting as a pair-programming buddy that you can talk with. Agentic AI now acts as a buddy-programmer that can read bug reports or product requirements, make changes to your code, and create PRs on your behalf. Engineers become a combination of operators and co-authors, employing expertise built up over the years to effectively drive these AI agents.
Ohmagerd the productivity! This will make engineers so happy to get so much done!
Wait… will it? Do engineers write code because they like doing it as fast as possible? The intrinsic motivation that drives so many software developers is simply closing tickets and checking off tasks? No… that doesn’t sound right.
Ohmagerd the productivity! This will make managers so happy to get so much done!
Wait… will it? Do people become managers so they can maximize the output of a group? Are they simply optimization engineers working in meat-space? Creating a team that is more productive than other teams is a sign of good management, right? But wait, if all the other teams in the company are also using AI, then the team doesn’t look any better by comparison. Do managers really care about AI? No… I don’t think they do.
Ohmagerd the productivity! This will make the CEO and board so happy that so much is getting done!
