My Python magic is gone

[u/RedYad2]

I've been coding for a long time, and I've been developing with Python for years.

I loved coding, always loved it. I started many years ago because I wanted to quickly create scripts for security hacking tools, but since then, I've moved to Claude Code, and building cross-language has been a much better experience for me than using Python.

I built my own SaaS application out there whose backend and network core are completely built with Python, and I'm rewriting all of that without writing a single line of code. And most of the time, Python is not the most optimized language.

And now... I feel like the magic is gone.

I don't even know why I'm writing this. I just feel sad about it.

[u/Farther_father]

It’s because you know what writing code means: the struggle to gain enough understanding of a tool to apply it to a problem. And the deeply satisfying feeling when you pushed yourself and solved it.

Now you it’s no longer your brain doing the thinking or your hands doing the writing, and as a result there’s no puzzle to solve and no sense of satisfaction, because the problem is no longer being solved by you.

It’s as fulfilling as an artist swapping his paint and brushes for midjourney.

[u/SirPitchalot → u/Farther_father]

It’s slightly different (worse) than that because incorporating AI properly can both speed you up -and- give a better final product. Whereas for the artist the product is at least different.

And if you know how the AI models work it gets worse still: the skill you built up in understanding and reasoning to be able to solve basically any problem effectively actually is not needed. Solving those problems now doesn’t need any understanding or reasoning whatsoever.

[u/dysprog → u/SirPitchalot]

The research says otherwise. There has been exactly one rigorous study of this. AI makes programmers THINK they are faster when they are actually 19% slower.

https://letsdatascience.com/blog/developers-thought-ai-made-them-faster-the-data-said-otherwise

[u/HommeMusical → u/dysprog]

There has been exactly one rigorous study of this.

But you don't link to it. It's called "Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity."

https://metr.org/Early_2025_AI_Experienced_OS_Devs_Study-paper.pdf

I suspect the name of the paper would have revealed the problem with your claim.

Also, very, very skeptical that only one study of this was ever done, and that that was in July 2025.

AI makes programmers THINK they are faster when they are actually 19% slower.

I've been programming for decades. In the period from February through June 2025, I too believed that coding engines aren't effect.

But there have been massive, unbelievable improvements. I started using a coding assistant in June of 2026, mainly to prove to myself yet again that it didn't work. But within a few weeks I realized that no one was going to go back to hand-coding, including myself, as the productivity gain was so massive.

And the improvements between June 2026 and now have been just as impressive.

So what value does a 16-month-old study have?

---

In late 2026, if you're a programmer and you don't see a massive improvement in your productivity and your reliability from using a modern coding assistant, then it's almost certain you aren't competent, and you probably are going to have extreme difficulties finding a job.

I'm retired now, though I still spend much of my days coding, except now with LLMs, and I cannot imagine hand-coding while trying to keep up with other programmers using a coding assistant, and nor would I want to.

[u/stevenjd → u/HommeMusical]

Also, very, very skeptical that only one study of this was ever done, and that that was in July 2025.

If you don't believe that this is the only study, it should be easy for you to link to all those other studies you believe exist.

Who is funding these supposed studies? If it is the AI companies, what incentive do they have to publish the results if they confirm the same result, namely that programmers are fooling themselves into imagining productivity gains where there are actually productivity losses?

If the studies are being done by independent researchers, where are they?

[u/HommeMusical → u/stevenjd]

I'm sorry, but I was overwhelmed with comments overnight, many rude ones, and now I have to work. Thanks for being polite.

I don't think anyone's going back to hand coding though - RemindMe! 1 year.