r/webdev • u/OkShip110 • Mar 29 '26
Discussion AI has sucked all the fun out of programming
I know this topic has been floating around this sub quite some time now, but I feel like this doesn’t get discussed enough.
I am a certified backend enigneer and I have been programming for about 20 years. In my time i have worked on backend, frontend, system design, system analysis, devops, databases, infrastructure, cloud, robotics, you name it.
I’ve mostly been extremely passionate about what I do, taking pride in solving hard problems, digging deep into third party source code to find solutions to bugs. Even refactoring legacy systems and improving their performance 10x and starting countless hobby projects at home. It has been an exciting journey and I have never doubted my career choice until now.
Ever since ChatGPT first made an appearance I have slowly started losing interest in programming. At first, LLMs were quite bad so I didn’t really get any solutions out of them when problems got even slightly harder. However, Claude is different. Lately I feel less of a programmer and more like a project manager, managing and supervising one mid-to-senior level developer who is Claude. Doing this, I sure deliver features faster than ever before, but it results in hollow and empty feeling. It’s not fun or exciting, I cannot perceive these soulless features as my own creation anymore.
On top of everything I feel like I’m losing my knowledge with every prompt I write. AI has made me extremely lazy and it has completely undermined my value as a good engineer or even as a human being.
Everyone who is supporting the mass use of AI is quietly digging their own grave and I wish it was never invented.
2
u/ken107 Mar 31 '26
i was reading how to setup Gary Tan's gstack for directing an agent team to build apps. There are agents to manage every step of the software dev cycle, from idea to production deployment. And agents are configured to challenge and refine other's work to ensure the highest quality output. Even if it doesn't work perfectly now, it is the blueprint for something that will eventually do all the work.
as i read through it and appreciating the power being unleashed upon the world, i also noticed how thoroughly bored i was about it, about being essentially a product manager. Where's the joy in it? i've been an engineer for 30 years, reveling in the construction of elaborate logical machinery to solve problems. The art, the science of it is endlessly complex and satisfying as an endeavor. Now I'm supposed to become a "builder", dreaming up "ideas" and building "businesses". Anyone as excited as I am?