Is coding dead because AI has taken over it?(jehuamanna.com)
jehuamanna.com
Is coding dead because AI has taken over it?
https://www.jehuamanna.com/blog/2026/is-coding-dead/
19 comments
Not even close. Not yet at least. AI is definitely helping with menial coding tasks, but the more complex stuff is still best left to the human in the loop. And the HitL is still needed to make sure the basic stuff is done well.
Ask 10 people & you'll get 10 different answers :D. Here's mine: I don't think software development jobs are going to disappear, even though the amount of hand-written code will in all likelihood decline. Those employing s/w devs are just going to expect more output. Until recently most smaller teams wouldn't even attempt more ambitious projects due to worry they'd blow it (yes, the uncomfortable reality is that most s/w projects fail). Now, they're getting braver since LLMs are essentially a RAD tool, and I'd argue that's a good thing.
I've been a professional dev for 20 years, and done plenty of solo projects, but also worked on teams at small & large firms. Even when we were able to build good products, the amount of man-hours sunk into those products often meant they weren't profitable. One of my former bosses made the whole s/w dev dept. gather int the cafeteria one day & ranted at us that he's spent 6 million Euros paying software developers but our products aren't selling, and he doesn't understand why we take so long to build basic products. That boss left shortly thereafter & the company was restructured, but in a way, he wasn't wrong. I can imagine that had we had LLMs things might've turned out differently, but who knows.
I've been a professional dev for 20 years, and done plenty of solo projects, but also worked on teams at small & large firms. Even when we were able to build good products, the amount of man-hours sunk into those products often meant they weren't profitable. One of my former bosses made the whole s/w dev dept. gather int the cafeteria one day & ranted at us that he's spent 6 million Euros paying software developers but our products aren't selling, and he doesn't understand why we take so long to build basic products. That boss left shortly thereafter & the company was restructured, but in a way, he wasn't wrong. I can imagine that had we had LLMs things might've turned out differently, but who knows.
So they blamed the developers for products not selling instead of blaming the uberboss/idea guy that decided to create those products?
I see...
I see...
No. I am having more fun coding than ever before. I am learning new things, building things I never had time to even consider exploring and building throw away prototypes just because. I still think learning to code is crucial and necessary to get production grade systems as of now.
Me too, with the added bonus of reading HN while the clanker is writing code ;)
Seriously though, now I think more about architecture and testing than before. Also I end the day with less foggy head than when I hand coded.
Seriously though, now I think more about architecture and testing than before. Also I end the day with less foggy head than when I hand coded.
It's fascinating to me how dramatically software engineering has changed over the last couple of years due to advanced LLMs and programming tools.
For whatever high percentage of engineers, having AI generate and edit code is now a large part of their day. That and reviewing code and testing take up more time.
Whether you want to call them engineers or not, producing custom software is much more accessible now.
There are a lot of consequences. For one thing, I think that this is going to reduce the market share of products like Salesforce and some other relatively high priced software that is often highly customized. There will be lots more open source competitors and many companies or departments generating custom software to replace it or parts of it.
For whatever high percentage of engineers, having AI generate and edit code is now a large part of their day. That and reviewing code and testing take up more time.
Whether you want to call them engineers or not, producing custom software is much more accessible now.
There are a lot of consequences. For one thing, I think that this is going to reduce the market share of products like Salesforce and some other relatively high priced software that is often highly customized. There will be lots more open source competitors and many companies or departments generating custom software to replace it or parts of it.
Walking as a profession absolutely is dead. Unless you're a dog walker, you don't get paid just to walk something from A to B. Coding as a profession can similarly reach its end. Coding is not dead, but don't expect to get paid for it. Don't be the one in denial because your paycheck depends on preaching denial.
Yes coding is dead, and the whole windows 11 patch fiasco is a demonstration of it...
We all learn to walk, but most of us did stop learning to ride horses.
Short answer: no.
Long answer [^1]:
> Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states:
> "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."
[^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...
Long answer [^1]:
> Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states:
> "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."
[^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...
[deleted]
No
Claude Code does empower developers to do deep higher level work. It's easier to generate advanced changes now.
E.g. database optimisations a Senior Engineer might do, such as designing a database partition or creating a complex composite index. The problem? When Claude recommends more advanced solutions without a deep understanding it is easy to miss where the foot guns lie or if Claude got it outright wrong.
It's like being handed a chainsaw when you had an axe. Without good judgement, it's easy to cut down the wrong trees.
E.g. database optimisations a Senior Engineer might do, such as designing a database partition or creating a complex composite index. The problem? When Claude recommends more advanced solutions without a deep understanding it is easy to miss where the foot guns lie or if Claude got it outright wrong.
It's like being handed a chainsaw when you had an axe. Without good judgement, it's easy to cut down the wrong trees.
You are right, but the responsibility of the final artifact must fall on the human.
Think about what we did before if we didn't have another human around to ask and think together about a problem.
We searched for solutions or more info on Stack Overflow, Reddit , random blogs or HN even. The we tried to evaluate the pros and cons of each possible solution and then decide what to do.
Now we should use the LLM to get that info from the internet (be it from its lossy memorized or better fresh from its search tool). Then try to ask the LLM for pros and cons and follow the links it provided if you don't trust its "judgement".
Think about what we did before if we didn't have another human around to ask and think together about a problem.
We searched for solutions or more info on Stack Overflow, Reddit , random blogs or HN even. The we tried to evaluate the pros and cons of each possible solution and then decide what to do.
Now we should use the LLM to get that info from the internet (be it from its lossy memorized or better fresh from its search tool). Then try to ask the LLM for pros and cons and follow the links it provided if you don't trust its "judgement".
That assumes the problem is a common one others have encountered, which the examples I gave above certainly were. When you're wrangling with poorly documented legacy code operating under the context of its own internal domain logic (e.g. arcane country specific banking regulations), often the only source of good "judgement" (that's the commonwealth spelling btw) are those in the past who wrote the code the way they did.
This is an area where Claude Code is both valuable and dangerous. It can propose sweeping (correct) changes based on inconsistencies it finds within the codebase. The developer, in situations where nobody more senior is around to answer those design questions, is left making a judgement call based on vibes and what logic they can piece together about Claude's changes.
This is an area where Claude Code is both valuable and dangerous. It can propose sweeping (correct) changes based on inconsistencies it finds within the codebase. The developer, in situations where nobody more senior is around to answer those design questions, is left making a judgement call based on vibes and what logic they can piece together about Claude's changes.
No. Maybe it is a problem for the author and many others who fit this profile:
> I love to solve problems using Web Technologies. JavaScript/TypeScript (along with the foundation, that is, HTML and CSS)
"coding" is "dead" for Web Technologies and frontend roles (for those looking for inflated starting salaries at $200K+) because AI can do at least 98% of the work and can at best one shot this sort of work.
> I love to solve problems using Web Technologies. JavaScript/TypeScript (along with the foundation, that is, HTML and CSS)
"coding" is "dead" for Web Technologies and frontend roles (for those looking for inflated starting salaries at $200K+) because AI can do at least 98% of the work and can at best one shot this sort of work.
I am on the same page as yours on "Web Technologies". But fundamentally they are not obsolete.
[deleted]
You could be an amazing player, but everyone will point out the cheat codes are on. The last refuge will be deeply niche programming or areas not well represented in, or not generalizable from, the vast training corpus.