It really isn't that hard. The LLM needs a few iterations of self review, and you need to ask it for an architecture up front, but from there, it's mostly manual testing to make sure the LLM didn't fuck up.

I don't think it'd take more than a few weeks for a high schooler to learn how to prompt well.

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simonw 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Your hypothetical high schooler would have to learn what architecture is, and then what self review is, and iteration, and manual testing... and what "code" and "software" is first.

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springtimesun 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is something devs don’t give enough credit. You may think you’re just promoting, but ask someone outside the field to prompt their way to a feature and you will see very clearly what your experience is bringing to the table.

	▲	a2ff6eeb0 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, but train them for a month on how to get the AI to help them prompt, and they'll do fine. AIs are extremely effective at letting you offload skill, you just need to know how to ask. This should surprise nobody, since this is what they were and built for. I genuinely don't think you need much training for creating code any more. The skill can be offloaded.

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a2ff6eeb0 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If it takes them more than a few weeks to figure out "Review your own output with a clean context. Check it for bugs, performance, and places where it doesn't do what the user wants", I don't know what to say. And where are you finding high schoolers that don't know what software is?

Note, people don't typically need to understand the architecture documents that the LLMs generate, and will certainly be filling in the rest of the gaps as new models come out. The function of design docs is to make the LLM ask clarifying questions and fill in the constraints.

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iamflimflam1 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Maybe - but I would argue that the skill comes in knowing if the architecture is appropriate and knowing that LLM is not screwing it up.

	▲	a2ff6eeb0 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You can get more confidence by asking the LLM about when the architecture would be appropriate than by trying to intuit it yourself. The LLM is trained on so many more architectures and stories of how they panned out than you are. The skill is really in manually testing before handoff.