Summary & Key Takeaways ​

• The author shares a common fear of being replaced or devalued by AI in software development.
• Deep platform knowledge feels less valuable when LLMs know more.
• "Personal software" is emerging, where quality is secondary to getting the job done.
• The capabilities of coding AI tools have advanced significantly in the last year.
• There's an "icky feeling" when creating things without effort or understanding using AI.
• The author struggles with the push-and-pull between fear of replacement and potential increased value.

Our Commentary ​

This piece hits hard. I feel this in my bones. The "icky feeling" of creating without understanding is so real. We're all grappling with this tension between the immense power of AI and the unsettling feeling that our hard-won skills might be eroding. It's a strange time to be a developer. I genuinely don't know how to feel about agents churning away at 3am while nobody's watching. Are we becoming orchestrators of algorithms, or are we just... prompt engineers? It's a question that keeps me up at night.