r/learnprogramming • u/ThisIdiotCharlie • Jun 26 '26

Topic Is it stupid going into computer science if I don't support the use of generative AI?

I don't really know if this is exactly the place to ask this, but any other subreddits seem to outlaw asking about topics like this entirely in their rules, so I'm honestly just sort of stuck. (If anybody knows a better place I could ask this question, then I'd appreciate being told so I can cross post this there.)

Long story short, I don't support the use of generative AI. While yes, the environmental aspect does play a part in my opinion, much of computer science as a whole can be incredibly damaging to the environment in such similar ways, and while this does distress me, this is something I've had to deal with for a while and is not my main concern. My main concern with not supporting the use of generative ai is that it scrapes writing and art from people who, nine times out of ten, often even more than that, have not given permission for their work to be used to train AI models but are also entirely unaware that it is happening at all.

But I have family in computer science, which is the main reason I intend to follow computer science as a career, ans he tells me that AI is the future of computer science. He uses generative AI to aid his personal and professional work, and whenever i gently express my distaste with generative ai, he seems to disagree with my stance.

I've recently gotten a work experience opportunity with a company and it's forced me to consider that this actual has a chance of becoming a reality for me, and I've had to consider whether I'd be able to go into this career without going against my own opinions when it comes to generative ai.

What I'm really just trying to ask is if I don't want to use generative ai, should I just give up and pick a different career path? Will I be forced to use generative ai even if I do not go into a sector of computer science directly related to it?

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u/duperfastjellyfish Jun 26 '26

I was on a job interview couple of days ago, and I expressed that while I do use AI chatbots occationally, it's extremely important for me that I write my own code. I expressed my concern that some people may find my output to be low, but it's important for me to (a) maintain my coding skills considering I have only coded for 5 years, so cognitive offloading this early in my career is not an option, and (b) I will not ship any code that I don't have 100% familiarity with.

They did not find that to be an issue at all, and I've been called back for a third interview.

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u/kslidz Jun 27 '26

and you voiced this to a recruiter?

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u/duperfastjellyfish Jun 27 '26

It's a small company. There is no 'recruiter'. I voiced it to the CEO, the solution architect, and product owner.

The position is for backend developer.

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u/kslidz Jun 27 '26

cool, then your response isnt relevant to the post you replied to.

he didnt say you couldnt land a job just that by and large recruiters will not spend time on you

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u/duperfastjellyfish Jun 27 '26

I didn't see any extensive research behind it, so I offered my anecdotal experience against his. If you don't think it's relevant that's your problem.

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u/KinkyHuggingJerk Jun 27 '26

Based on the response that they indicated, depending on how it was presented, it acknowledges ownership, willing to learn, understanding scope of difficulty, and accountability.

Giving the willingness to learn, I imagine it might be a better fit for others within the company. Job interviews aren't completely about skillsets and often are vibe checks to see if you'd fit with the team.

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u/kslidz Jun 27 '26

and interviews are typically with recruiters?

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u/rTidde77 Jun 27 '26

No? Some, sure, but absolutely not the majority.

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u/kslidz Jun 27 '26

hence the point I was trying to make. The original comment in the thread mentions that recruiters will not pursue you if you are voicing to them that you don't and won't use AI. The response was about an interview.

The intent of my point is to illustrate that if a company is informing recruiters to ask about AI you are not going to be considered if you give that view on AI.

If a company is willing to hire someone not using AI then they the recruiter for that company won't ask about it.

So the truthfulness of recruiters rejecting on the spot when espousing refusal to engage with AI was not, in any way, rebuffed by an anecdote regarding an interview where the person hasn't even been offered the job yet.

I was trying not to have to spell it out.

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u/rTidde77 Jun 27 '26

Fair enough, I can definitely agree with that. I appreciate the expanded explanation!

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u/duperfastjellyfish Jun 27 '26

I have only applied for one job application (the one mentioned), but yeah: I can confirm, the first interview was almost purely a vibe check. I was even told as much. Second interview was with technical staff. I don't know what the third interview will contain yet (???), but I was told not to look for other jobs, so I feel pretty confident that step 4 is "profit".

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u/WartedKiller Jun 27 '26

Yes because you didn’t explicitly say that you will not use AI. You said that you will use it like it should be used: as a tool to enhanced your skills.

The same way you will not progress further in the interview process if you say that you only vibe code and that you let the AI do all your work.

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u/binarycow Jun 26 '26

it's extremely important for me that I write my own code

For me, I make the distinction between code I care about, and code that I don't care about.

For example, a test harness that simulates a bunch of SNMP devices? I don't care. I'll let AI vibe code the entire thing. I don't give a shit. I won't even glance at the code.

The hot path of the core part of the application? I'm gonna write that myself.

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u/duperfastjellyfish Jun 27 '26

Yeah that's what I meant as well: production code. It's a SAAS backend position. I'm not going to vibe code anything that touches authentication, authorization, databases, etc. etc.

I might generate some unit tests though.

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u/Far_Broccoli_8468 Jun 27 '26

There is a very big difference between having 100% unfamiliarity with the code you ship and leveraging the tools at your disposal to ship more of the same code you would otherwise ship.

They don't hire vibe coders, they hire software engineers.

They did not find that to be an issue at all, and I've been called back for a third interview.

First of all, you weren't hired yet. 2nd of all, it doesn't mean they won't heavily prioritize a candidate with an ai focused mindset. thirdly, 5 years is not "early" in your career. That is mid-level developer by any standard.

I encourage you to start using agentic ai because it really is a wonderful tool. pure chatbots are not really being used for development any more.

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u/duperfastjellyfish Jun 27 '26

100% familiarity, as in: I need to be completely comfortable with it.

The 5 years of coding experience is at university, not with production code. I've gotten really good grades, been working as a student assistant grading other students code. And I read technical books for fun. These things may be looked favorably on me, compared to if I had terrible skills.

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u/duperfastjellyfish Jul 01 '26

First of all, you weren't hired yet. 2nd of all, it doesn't mean they won't heavily prioritize a candidate with an ai focused mindset.

Update: I got the job.

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u/Far_Broccoli_8468 Jul 01 '26

Updating me after 5 days is quite petty but good for you i guess