Blake Watson on the state of the industry

Here's Blake sharing his feelings about AI, software development and where we're all heading. He wrote the article that's been on my TODO list for a while. Let me comment on some highlights.

I feel like I will be able to build things I never have been able to before, but at the same time, I have heightened fears about being replaceable or less valuable in my job. If all I’m doing is prompting an AI bot, why am I being paid so much?

100% this. I'm scared and worried that the skills I put so much time into building are worth nothing. I used to be proud of my deep platform knowledge. Turns out Claude knows more.

And on a bigger scale, "personal software" is really happening. My friends are building browser extensions and websites for their fantasy football leagues. They don't care about quality as long as it gets the job done. Occasionally they ask me things about the DOOM (DOM), which is funny and scary at the same time.

At what point does software still need someone who actually knows what they're doing? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

If you haven’t used one of these coding tools in the last six months, you probably don’t have a good idea of what they are capable of.

I admire people who are still holding out against this technology, I really do. If that's you, you rock! Unfortunately, I couldn't agree more with the statement above.

If your arguments about LLM quality and all the generated fake news (hallucinations) are based on Copilot tryouts around last Christmas, you'd better check again. Things have changed a lot.

I just have this icky feeling when I use it.

Same. I hate that I can create things without effort or understanding. I hate that there are days when I talk to agents all day. I hate that it seems like nothing matters anymore. I hate that everyone is pushing and pushing and pushing and nothing gets done.

I’m worried about being replaced, but maybe I’ll be even more valuable. [...] So I just go back and forth. I worry about it, but then I think everything will work out.

Yes. There are good weeks and then there are bad weeks.

Sometimes, I'm okay with "focusing on the outcome". Sometimes, I'm fine with the loss of the job that was my favorite thing to do. Sometimes, I have enough energy to change habits and find satisfaction and joy elsewhere.

But sometimes, man... sometimes the new world drives me nuts.

So, let's hope Blake is right and things will work out (somehow).