I really don't know why I struggle so much with this stuff. I believe these models / agents / whatever write code that is often at least as good as the code I write, and they are super helpful tools, but it just feels like it takes away so much of the joy that is programming to me. I'm not saying it's "right" of me to feel this way, but for me the struggle, and the figuring things out by testing, identifying patterns, or looking deeper into a library's implementation (etc) is part of the challenge that makes programming and software construction fun.

I'm in your boat. I picked this career because I enjoy solving problems and thinking and understanding. I'm interested in how things work inside below the layers. To me, it's like the tech has a purpose of its own, and not just to provide value.

Using agents effectively is this whole other skillset including managing requirements, prioritization and, worse yet, I'm rarely left with any knowledge. I don't nearly get the same joy out of "I finished a task with an agent" like I do with "I had a problem, I delved deep to understand it, learned something new and solved it"

Then again, I bet people making furniture out of wood felt the same about industrial furniture factories. And it can be argued that not every use case needs custom tailored furniture...

It is kind of joyless that my day is now wait 20 min, QA, report back.