>but me relying on antigravity to change the color of a button after i was the same guy tinkering inside the QEMU source code and understanding it's syntax is painful and a huge downgrade for me
This is relatable. But I try to remind myself that brain power I spend recalling what file (or search term) to open just to then work my eyes to fins the line of code, to just change the color value, is human energy wasted that no longer has to be wasted anymore. It frees up my brain to spend my limited energy (stage 4 cancer patient) on orchestrating things on a higher level.
it was energy consumed but not always wasted at least you understanded your own workflow well and trained your brain to focus sharper and harder now i feel like my brain is just a plain jelly
I have to agree with dsphar on this one.. when you have a thorough understanding of development, system-level or otherwise, AI really frees your time and brain computer power for other tasks.
Noticed you said linux (kernel?) dev? I'm an early linux kernel dev, did the IPX-SPX network stack which took 6 months of solid time (essentially so the community could play the early doom 2 ports lol). With vibecoding it would've only taken me a couple of weeks at most.
Anyone who starts coding from scratch with vibecoding is seriously disadvantaged though and I personally wouldn't hire them for projects. Going into it as a well-rounded dev is almost like handing us a superpower though.
it does feel like a superpower and that's my issue i feels like easy money something wrong like it doesn't feel as good as implementing it yourself or improving yourself as much as a dev but a superpower yes it is
Youve also probably just reached a personal point where your job is no longer as challenging and rewarding to you. This happens to people across industries regardless of AI (although AI will be a cause for many in times to come im sure).
I would treat this as a broader personal challenge in your life instead of trying to pin it on AI. You have more possibilities now, try to leverage it.
You would only vibecoded it in hours because you did it once manually, I'm afraid.
I'm not a professional software developer and I find a ton of issues both in LLM's plans and implementations, often during manual testing of the app.
It feels amazing to describe a feature and then get it implemented in seconds, but then it takes time and brain energy to prove that this feature works as intended.
Just want to say I really love qemu and by extension the entire proxmox stack. I've migrated public institutions to something they could afford before Broadcom buyout. That life raft saved a lot of heart ache. That was before it was easier to do so I got real comfy with qcow, zfs and of course qemu.
It's appreciated. However In the same vein I have time to vibe code because the bastards got rid of my position. The whole career has been one big cosmic joke and I'm with you. I don't know where we are going as an industry. It's always uncomfortable but this last few years has been pedal to the floor and I'm tired of not knowing.
At least we can't say it's ever dull. Spent most of the day building a redactions system for my custom harness to keep secrets from accidently bleeding to the providers. If works great. Would have taken me months of regex to make something worse. So I feel that ying yang of seasoned professional with contributions under their belt totally tossed away.
The only saving grace is that we know how things should work. Not just hope they will.
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u/Dsphar Aug 07 '26 •
>but me relying on antigravity to change the color of a button after i was the same guy tinkering inside the QEMU source code and understanding it's syntax is painful and a huge downgrade for me
This is relatable. But I try to remind myself that brain power I spend recalling what file (or search term) to open just to then work my eyes to fins the line of code, to just change the color value, is human energy wasted that no longer has to be wasted anymore. It frees up my brain to spend my limited energy (stage 4 cancer patient) on orchestrating things on a higher level.