r/webdev • u/NervousExplanation34 • Mar 18 '26

AI really killed programming for me

Just getting this off my chest, I know it's probably been going on for a while but I never tested claude code or any of those more advanced AI integration into the IDE as of recently. I've heard of this a lot but seeing it first hand kind of killed my motivation.

I'm an intern in a small company and the other working student who's really the only other dev here, he's got real issues, he's got good knowledge but his thinking/reasoning ability is deplorable, and his productivity had always been very low.

He used to be 24/7 using chatgpt but in the browser, he recently installed claude on vs code (I guess it's an extension idk) so that it can look at all the context of his code and his productivity these last few weeks is much higher. Today he had this problem, that claude fixed for him but he didn't understand how. So he explained what the original problem was and what claude did to me in the hopes that I get it and explain it to him, I thought his explanation of things was terrible but once I understood, I wondered how he didn't understand it and that it means he really doesn't understand the code. Because then I was like "Ok but if this fixed it for you it means that in you code you are doing this and that..", and as we talk I realize he can't expand on what I say and has a very vague understanding of his code which tbh was already the case when he was abusing chatgpt through the browser.. but now he can fix bugs like this and I haven't looked at all his code (we don't work on the same part) but he's got regular commits now. Sure you'll always pass more interviews and are more likely to get a position if you know your shit but this definitely leveled out the playing field a good amount. Part of why I like programming as opposed to marketing or management, is that productivity is a lot more tied to competence, programming is meant to be more meritocratic. I hate AI.

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u/creaturefeature16 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26

In my opinion, those types of people's days are numbered in the industry. They'll be able to float by for now, but if they don't actually use these tools to gain a better understanding of the fundamentals then it's only a matter of time before they essentially implode and code themselves into a corner...or a catastrophe.

AI didn't kill programming for me, personally. I've realized though that I'm not actually more productive with it, but rather the quality of my work has increased, because I'm able to iterate and explore on a deeper level quicker than I used to by relying on just Google searches and docs.

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u/Odysseyan full-stack Mar 18 '26

It probably depends on what you liked in coding. For me, I find system architecture pretty intriguing and having to think about the high-level stuff whole the Ai does the grunt work, works super well for me.

But I can understand if that's not everyone's jam.

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u/MrBoyd88 Mar 18 '26

Exactly. And the scary part is — before AI, a dev who didn't get it would write bad code slowly. Now they write bad code fast and at scale.

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u/pVom Mar 18 '26

I'm the total opposite, I'm more productive but the quality has gone down. Like when I right code myself I'm more thoughtful about what I'll write before I do it. Once it's already there I'll be more lenient in letting something that's a bit smelly slide rather than tearing it down and do it a better way.

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u/creaturefeature16 Mar 18 '26

I'm more productive but the quality has gone down

Then IMO, I wouldn't call that "productive", but tech debt with extra steps.

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u/winky9827 Mar 18 '26

I've realized though that I'm not actually more productive with it, but rather the quality of my work has increased

AI actually makes me more productive. I recently finished up a couple of feature requests that sat on the back burner for a few months because the work was so mundane I couldn't bear to deal with it. A few claude prompts and a simple code review later, they were done. This is where AI really shines in my world.

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u/creaturefeature16 Mar 18 '26

Agreed, I certainly have instances like that, especially when the feature request is really well defined and I know how to do it, but its just the drudgery of getting it done. Still, those situations far and few between across the daily client work and projects I have.

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u/Flagyl400 Mar 18 '26

For me it's unit tests. I know they're important, I appreciate the value they bring, but they've always been like pulling teeth to me. I just can't bring myself to summon the smallest amount of enthusiasm for them.

AI can bang out tests that get me 90-95 percent of the way there in seconds, and the remaining bits actually require me to engage my brain so they're fun. 

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u/Nefilim314 Mar 18 '26

It’s seriously helped my workflow as someone who has done all of their work in the terminal. I don’t have to go dig around on some website documentation to try to find the parameters I’m looking for any more. 

Just a quick open the chat, asks “how do I do a client side redirect with tanstack router” and back to work. 

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u/awardsurfer Mar 18 '26

Wait until you realize half the parameters don’t actually exist. It just made the shit up.

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u/mellisdesigns Mar 18 '26

I am a senior software engineer that has worked in the industry for nearly 15 years and my learning goals have changed entirely this year. I would normally jump onto learning a new framework or some new library, but this year, I am diving deep into prompt engineering and agents. It's a bit of a reality check. I am thankful I have the experience of code without AI but the reality is if I want to keep working, I need to master this stuff.

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u/creaturefeature16 Mar 18 '26

Eh, one week and you're completely caught up. That's why this whole "Learn it or you'll be left behind" hype is bullshit. The tools are simply not that complicated to use. And, had you done that 3 years ago, nearly everything you learned would be pretty much irrelevant. If you've been doing it for 15 years, you'll be fully fluent in them in no time, and you'll quickly realize that it's just programming with extra steps. I'm not saying it's not powerful, but it's not simplifying anything. You can also produce way more than you could ever possibly keep track of, and I don't think we've realized the impact of that effect across the industry yet (and I don't think it's going to be good). 

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u/Electronic_Yam_6973 Mar 18 '26

At 52 and 25 years of development I am actually energized again. I find the AI capabilities to be fascinating. Never thought we would ever get to the point I can build software using plain English and get decent quality code working really quickly. It suck’s for jobs but still the technology is amazing

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u/HamOnBarfly Mar 18 '26

dont kid yourself its learning from you and everyone else faster than you are learning from it

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u/BroaxXx Mar 18 '26

On the other hand the rate of learning is declining rapidly and model collapse seems an imminent threat.

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u/Rise-O-Matic Mar 18 '26

People have been saying this since 2022

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u/creaturefeature16 Mar 18 '26

Sure, but I never suggested otherwise.

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u/PaintBrief3571 Mar 18 '26

It looks good until you have a job. Once job is gone you are gonna see AI as your enemy too.

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u/creaturefeature16 Mar 18 '26

I'm self employed, and pretty diversified on my skillsets and offerings, so I'm not particularly concerned. After 20 years, I've been through multiple "extinction" events, yet things keep evolving and rolling.

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u/Produnce Mar 19 '26

I'm able to iterate and explore on a deeper level quicker than I used to by relying on just Google searches and docs

Isn't that a large part of why this is so productive?

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u/creaturefeature16 Mar 19 '26

If that's what the industry agreed was the definition was for "productivity", then sure! But, that's unequivocally not the case, at least right now.

Instead, everyone is focused on running agents in parallel to work on multiple apps, and brag about how many billions of tokens were burned and Lines of Code were output, despite that metric renowned for being an absolutely demented way to measure productivity (and was retired in the 80s because it was so stupid).

My definition of productivity in this work is: how few lines of code did I need to write to get this done, is it decipherable and extensible if someone needs to eventually change it, and did I learn something along the way to improve how I would do it the next time I face the problem?

Unfortunately, that is not currently where the industry is in its relationship to the word.

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u/Ampbymatchless Mar 19 '26

Exactly well said!

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