A couple of weeks ago I interviewed at a place where I had to do a take-home exercise. It's fine, I don't mind. No Leetcode. Just my own IDE, my own shortcuts, and write a piece code that solves a problem.

I was asked whether I used AI/LLM for the solution. I didn't. I felt like using an LLM to solve the problem for me wasn't the right way of showcasing knowledge. The role was for some form of 'come in with knowledge and help us'.

The response to that was basically: everybody here uses AI.

I declined the follow-up interview, as I felt that if all you have is the speed of AI to be ahead of your competitors, you're not really building the kind of things that I want to be a part of. It basically implies that the role is up in the air as soon as the AI gets better.

When I started coding I did it in notepad. I thought it was hardcore and cool. I was young and stupid. Then I adopted an IDE and I became much better at writing code.

To me AI is just another tool that helps me solve problems with code. An auto complete on steroids. A context aware stack overflow search. Not wanting to adopt or not even work somewhere where colleagues use it, sounds to me like coding in notepad AND in the process scoffing those who use an IDE.

Besides, if AI gets to the point it can replace you, it will replace you. Better to start learning how to work with it so you can fill whatever gap AI can't.