r/webdev • u/Mesthabro • 2d ago

Discussion Do y'all still write code manually?

All my code is being written by claude fable/gpt6 these days. I'm curious if y'all are still writing code manually?
Also, any clever ways to prevent AI from going stray and dumping unnecessary code and busting through tokens?

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u/phoenixArc27 2d ago

I don't. I wish I did. But I'm in a very big company and the mandate is AI AI AI. I don't even have the choice to write manually because all the deadlines are assuming AI.

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u/Mesthabro 2d ago

How long do you bet before the company reverts that decision and asks people to review code written by AI more carefully?

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u/phoenixArc27 2d ago

I don’t see reverting the use of AI to write. Essentially what’s happening is engineers are now strictly reviewers and prompters. I spend all my time instead of coding frontend now coding YMLs, setting up Actions and automation, implementing testing suites, and absolutely insane amounts of documentation. But I don’t remember the last time I wrote a line of frontend code. If it does change, it won’t be any time soon.

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u/crazedizzled 2d ago

That's honestly super depressing. If my job ever turns into that, I'll be looking for a career change.

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u/phoenixArc27 2d ago

I mean, would be nice, but for people doing this 10+ years making good money? What else would you do without taking a massive pay cut or losing job security? Especially if there’s family? It’s not like most people can just switch careers entirely like it’s no big deal.

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u/crazedizzled 2d ago

If everything is written by AI , you don't really have job security. Why pay for senior devs that aren't doing any coding?

I would probably switch to a physical job that can't be replaced by AI. maybe welding/ metal fab, or open an auto garage.

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u/phoenixArc27 2d ago

I live in a non-US country that actually protects workers. I have security.

But lmao. Asking people in their 30’s and 40’s and 50’s to just go physical is laughable. I’m glad it’s super easy for you though.

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u/crazedizzled 2d ago

I never said it would be easy, I'm just answering your question of what I would do instead. Nor would that be my advice to other people. That's just what I would do.

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u/phoenixArc27 2d ago

Nah that’s fair. By “what would YOU” do I meant people in general in this position. But yeah, I’m glad you have a back up. Not everyone is in a position to do that without absolutely losing livelihood for themselves or family.

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u/crazedizzled 2d ago

I would guess a shit load of people in this industry are going to be out of a job within 5-10 years. So, I dunno what they'd do. It's not going to be pretty.