I should preface my comment with the fact that I’m ultimately neutral on the AI space right now. I’ve gone back and forth on the topic.
That said, I think this article underscores the fact that software engineering as a discipline is already unrecognizable from what it was like even a few years ago. You now have to be more into architecture and directing how the AI development tools write out your code.
I know a guy who works at Amazon, and the models at OpenAI and Anthropic are so good that he doesn’t even really write code in the classic sense anymore. However, because of his background and experience, he does know what he should expect and if an output matches the quality he wants, versus just blindly trusting the AI tool.
In our world, you have to adapt or die. It’s that simple.
> I know a guy who works at Amazon, and the models at OpenAI and Anthropic are so good that he doesn’t even really write code in the classic sense anymore
"I know a guy", what a weird thing to say in October 2026. I don't think I know anyone who still writes code in the classic sense.
What will happen when he retires? What about the generation who grew up pressing enter on claude code, though nowadays auto mode does it for you.
It’s strange for a brief moment in history humans peaked in technological literacy and it went down from there. I hope the doctor guys are still learning.
Don't worry, the next wave of layoffs will absolve you of your soul-sucking penance of "pressing Enter in Claude without reading anything", and give it to someone who will gladly take on your burden for half your pay.
Edit: downvote me all you want, but am I wrong? Jesus was also hated for saying the truth.
I feel the only people struggling with this are people who loved programming and syntax.
Product-minded software engineers are thriving. Less tedium, easier refactors, manageable scope creep.
The “hard” part of engineering has moved up to higher level challenges: evals, sandboxes, etc
I should preface my comment with the fact that I’m ultimately neutral on the AI space right now. I’ve gone back and forth on the topic.
That said, I think this article underscores the fact that software engineering as a discipline is already unrecognizable from what it was like even a few years ago. You now have to be more into architecture and directing how the AI development tools write out your code.
I know a guy who works at Amazon, and the models at OpenAI and Anthropic are so good that he doesn’t even really write code in the classic sense anymore. However, because of his background and experience, he does know what he should expect and if an output matches the quality he wants, versus just blindly trusting the AI tool.
In our world, you have to adapt or die. It’s that simple.
> I know a guy who works at Amazon, and the models at OpenAI and Anthropic are so good that he doesn’t even really write code in the classic sense anymore
"I know a guy", what a weird thing to say in October 2026. I don't think I know anyone who still writes code in the classic sense.
What will happen when he retires? What about the generation who grew up pressing enter on claude code, though nowadays auto mode does it for you. It’s strange for a brief moment in history humans peaked in technological literacy and it went down from there. I hope the doctor guys are still learning.
quit
and do what?
Learn to cod... er... do plumbing?
What jobs do non-programmers do?
Don't worry, the next wave of layoffs will absolve you of your soul-sucking penance of "pressing Enter in Claude without reading anything", and give it to someone who will gladly take on your burden for half your pay.
Edit: downvote me all you want, but am I wrong? Jesus was also hated for saying the truth.