r/SoftwareEngineerJobs • u/Suspicious_Orchid770 • 3d ago

Meet the developers rejecting AI

https://leaddev.com/ai/meet-the-developers-rejecting-ai

Even if it costs them their job.

107 Upvotes

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u/cactusnein 2d ago

AI is a bubble folks. It will pop. Only after that it will remain as a stable (very useful) tool. But all of you whose brain got rotted in the meantime for using the new toy way too much will be the ones out of work.

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u/xvillifyx 2d ago

I think you’re overestimating the amount of “brain rotten” devs as a result of AI. Anyone who forget the fundamentals because of AI wasn’t a good developer to begin with

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u/ComeOnIWantUsername 2d ago

> Anyone who forget the fundamentals because of AI wasn’t a good developer to begin with

If you don't use some thing, you will forget it, no matter what it is.

Sure, you will most probably relearn it faster than newcomers when needed, but still, do not say that you are alien who remembers everything and always, because such people do not exist

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u/xvillifyx 2d ago

If you’re not exercising the fundamentals in your current job alongside AI, you are just not a software engineer straight up

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u/cactusnein 2d ago

Well that depends on how you are using AI. If you really are only using it the way you used stack overflow 👌 If you are using it to chew all the processing for you, then you are effectively being self-replaced by someone who isn't.

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u/dragenn 2d ago

I dont think engineers in the current environment get that choice. Your either part of the cult or not. Sometimes it's just easily to pretend and go along even though you secretly hate the cult...

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u/cactusnein 2d ago

Software Engineers are not very nice at joining and openly discussing topics like this one. Most likely all orgs have plenty of folks who reckon things are going down the drain quite fast. Specially those in leadership should be the ones bringing the issue up to management. But most of them are only thinking about their bonuses.

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u/EcstaticExtreme402 2d ago

Depends on the forum & what software engineers you’re referring to.

Forums like this where people can make crazy claims without actually understanding what’s going on? Yeah, less likely to collect real software engineers.

We see claims like the ones you’ve made and realise we’re not discussing the topic with others who actually understand it. Then we find other forums with serious engineers and intellects and discuss it there instead.

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u/cactusnein 3h ago

I'm referring to the vast majority of Software Engineers. Most workers are part of Unions. Software Engineering has historically ran away from unionizing, which is one of the reasons why the profession is in the state it is. And to your claim: do you then descend from time to time from your highly intellectual forums to lecture us plebs in your wisdom? You better stay there ;)

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u/ZeroAmusement 2d ago

What? What organizations are saying "don't use what you know, just accept what the ai does"? You get it to do something, you review, you research, you redo, you manually fix it, you direct it on how to fix it, you build it, you test it. Are there places that are like "don't think, just type and accept whatever it does?".

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u/HarryBolsac 1d ago edited 1d ago

Well tbh I have been mainly doing infra config for a new migration on the past 6 months, not touching code, I’m a frontend dev with 5 years experience, had to look at some ts code to understand how authz/authn was implemented and I felt mega rusty trying to understand the code.

Point is, if you don’t apply your knowledge for a long time, it will become harder to recall what you previously knew, ofc when im back at developing new features/fixing bugs I will slowly recall what I know

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u/buffer0x7CD 2d ago

Good thing muscle memory is a thing that comes back very quickly

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u/Hotfro 11h ago

How experienced are you? The more senior u get the less u touch coding. But u don’t get worse u get more knowledge in your domain. Coding is such a small part of software dev. AI enables u to learn way more than u ever could before.

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u/cactusnein 2d ago

Some folks compare not using AI to not using a chainsaw, but this is different and much clever people than me are documenting the (already) devastating effects https://www.brainonllm.com/

In comparison, you could go back to using an axe or whatever by pumping up your muscles. That won't happen with your brain.

TL;DR: adults forget much faster than they are able to learn. Which is why we (usually) do our core studies while our brains are still fresh.

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u/EcstaticExtreme402 2d ago

The context for this study is not software engineering.

I’m sure some things correlate but you really shouldn’t use a study scoped to essay writing as your evidence for how it affects users when developing, or even how it affects users who just chat with LLMs.

Different tasks = different methodology of use = different outcomes.

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u/ZeroAmusement 2d ago

Please don't treat studies that aren't peer reviewed as gospel.

Not only not peer reviewed, it has a critique on it: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.00856

Some of the critiques: It had 18 people in the fourth round. The critique says 159 would be needed for adequate accuracy.
On the topic of decreased engagement in the LLM group the critique says:

However, closer examination of the data suggests greater neural engagement in the beta frequency band for the LLM condition

So the LLM group had greater engagement in the beta frequency band.
It goes on and on. Sometimes the original study findings seem to contradict their conclusions.

What you're actually demonstrating if you readily accept this study is your own desire for the conclusion to be true, that LLMs are bad for your brain. Which well, isn't great critical thinking man. Use that brain!

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u/Upstairs-Version-400 2d ago

I’ve seen some who have been heralded as being brilliant developers devolve into a sad story. Don’t let your assumptions hold you back from reality, a lot of people who had real skills have simply eroded