I would jump off a bridge before I accepted that as my full-time job.
I've been programming for 20+ years and I've never wanted to move into management. I got into programming because I like programming, not because I like asking others to write code on my behalf and review what they come up with. I've been in a lead role, and I certainly do lots of code review and enjoy helping teammates grow. But the last fucking thing I want to do is delegate all the code writing to someone or something else.
I like writing code. Yes, sometimes writing code is tedious, or frustrating. Sometimes it's yak-shaving. Sometimes it's Googling. Very often, it's debugging. I'm happy to have AI help me with some of that drudgery, but if I ever get to the point that I feel like I spend my entire day in virtual meetings with AI agents, then I'm changing careers.
I get up in the morning to make things, not to watch others make things.
Maybe the kind of software engineering role I love is going to disappear, like stevedores and lamplighters. I will miss it dearly, but at least I guess I got a couple of good decades out of it. If this is what the job turns into, I'll have to find something else to do with my remaining years.
oh finally someone else who didn't enter programming because, as 7-10 year old child, they were into SOLVING PRACTICAL PROBLEMS FOR PEOPLE.
> But the last fucking thing I want to do is delegate all the code writing to someone or something else
Thank God there is at least one other person that understands that the ratio between creative and reactive work is crucial for wellbeing at the job.
For crying out loud.
> but if I ever get to the point that I feel like I spend my entire day in virtual meetings with AI agents, then I'm changing careers
so am I.
> but at least I guess I got a couple of good decades out of it
Thanks for this perspective. Yes, at least we've got our memories, and the code locations and commits we recall from memory, from a distance of 10 or more years.
>. If this is what the job turns into, I'll have to find something else to do with my remaining years
Me too.