> I find it hard to empathise with people who can't get value out of AI. It feels like they must be in a completely different bubble to me.

I think it depends on why you do programming. I like programming for its own sake. I enjoy understanding a complex system, figuring out how to make change to it, how to express that change within the language and existing code structure, how to effectively test it, etc. I actively like doing these things. It's fun and that keeps me motivated.

With AI I just type in an English sentence, wait a few minutes, and it does the thing, and then I stare out the window and think about all the things I could be doing with my life that I enjoy more than what just happened. I find my productivity is way down this year since the AI push at work, because I'm just not motivated to work. This isn't the job I signed up for. It's boring now.

The money's nice, I guess. But the joy is gone. Maybe I should go find more joy in another career, even if it pays less.

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sd9 3 days ago | parent [-]

Oh, I agree entirely. The new paradigm is entirely unsatisfying to me too. It's not the same work that I trained my entire life to get good at, and the new work is not as fun. I trained to get good at this work because I just loved it since I was first introduced to it at ~10. I would have, and was, doing it for free for years.

Unfortunately that doesn't change my outlook on where all this is headed.

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coldpie 3 days ago | parent [-]

Perhaps, then, you can actually empathize with people who don't get value from it :) I used to enjoy the work, now I don't, so I'm posting on HN and daydreaming about other careers, instead of doing something useful.

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sd9 3 days ago | parent [-]

Yeah, maybe empathise was the wrong word. I certainly empathise with the feelings, I just struggle to see how people cannot use it to get more done.

I'm also daydreaming about other careers instead of doing something useful.

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coldpie 3 days ago | parent [-]

> I just struggle to see how people cannot use it to get more done.

To be blunt about it, there's a decent chance I'll be quitting this job later this year, largely because of the AI push. I just hate these tools and I do not want to work this way. Losing an employee is a pretty big cost to the company. I guess the AI stuff is probably worth it to them, but there's a downside to it, too.

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	▲	sd9 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yeah I agree with you, and I think a lot of people feel the same. It's totally different now and it's not what I signed up for. Maybe I'll get used to it, idk. I hope everything works out well for you.