Parts of my job that I enjoy: - Designing systems - Writing elegant code - Learning new things - Solving interesting problems - Sharing knowledge

[tojiro@mastodon.social]

Parts of my job that I enjoy:
- Designing systems
- Writing elegant code
- Learning new things
- Solving interesting problems
- Sharing knowledge

Parts of my job I don't enjoy:
- Reviewing other people's code
- Debugging systems I'm not familiar with
- Blindly using poorly documented interfaces
- Dependency hell
- Being forced into the latest fad

AI enthusiasts: "What if I told you I've solved one of those lists for you?"

[swetland@chaos.social]

@tojiro I think notably, doing the List 1 items well, rather than outsourcing them to the slop machine, beyond being enjoyable, rewarding, and resulting in better code, reduces the List 2 misery for everyone else.

[gee8sh@techhub.social]

@tojiro

Someone once told me that they feel "ecstatic" about the prospect of not having to do one of these lists (i.e. the first one)

[tojiro@mastodon.social]

@gee8sh I've heard some people express a similar sentiment. But to me that feels like a cook whose favorite part of the job is doing the dishes? I'm sure they exist, but I can't relate.

[gee8sh@techhub.social]

@tojiro exactly! Spot on analogy.

[chagrins@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@tojiro All I hear is they made List 2 longer and more awful.

[lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@tojiro @gee8sh definitely not going to eat this cooks food

[lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@tojiro they didn't even solve it it's a broken rube goldberg machine where you end up having to intervene all the time

[shakespearenut@mastodon.nz]

@tojiro @gee8sh Same applies to AI in education. They keep telling me AI can do my planning and create resources and I’m like, but that’s one of the parts of my job I like the best!

[stompyrobot@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@tojiro
Reviewing other people's code and debugging unfamiliar modules is where we grow the most though.

My advice to new programmers is always "read other people's code! Do it regularly, with the goal to understand how it actually works. Step through it in the debugger!"

[tagaziel@meow.social]

@tojiro this is like me and copywriting, archiving, and documenting stuff.

The joyless ghouls want to deprive us all of even the smallest amounts of joy.

[david_chisnall@infosec.exchange]

@tojiro

I enjoy reviewing other people’s code. Either I learn something, or I get to teach them something (often both in the same PR), both of which are fun. Emphasis here on ‘people’. I don’t learn from a machine that regurgitates median-quality output, and it doesn’t learn from my comments.

[htpcnz@mastodon.social]

@tojiro really, so you say you like to learn new things? But first couple of things in your don't like to do list is review other peoples code and debug unfamiliar systems, sounds like you don't like to learn new things as that ain't the attitude of someone who likes to learn new things.

[kkarhan@jorts.horse]

@swetland @tojiro exactly!

[petersibley@mastodon.social]

@tojiro great summary of the madness .

[dand@social.lol]

@tojiro my experience has been that AI helps with a mixture of those two lists (and certainly doesn’t “solve” any of them completely). E.g. LLMs seem to pretty adept at dealing with dependency hell, or at least getting them untangled a lot more quickly than I can myself.

[thief_of_fire@infosec.exchange]

@tojiro I rarely ever got to do anything at work from that first list even before AI

[skylark13@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@StompyRobot @tojiro Not wanting to put words in Brandon's mouth, but I think the crucial part is, he's not saying he wants AI to do the second list instead of the first. AI could just not do either of them.

Speaking for myself: I enjoy the same things and dislike the same things, but I will gladly continue doing the things I dislike (in part because as you say, there are positive things to be gained from doing them) but why on Earth would I want AI to do the things I enjoy the most?

[stompyrobot@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@skylark13 @tojiro

In the best of worlds, we get to pick which parts we do!

A hobby woodcarver might use a knife where an industrial process would use CNC, and that's OK!

Note that society doesn't pay me to "do the bits I enjoy" though. They pay me for robust, working software, as quickly as possible, and the models can help achieve that, when guided.

[archo@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@tojiro arguably they did solve "reviewing other **people's** code" too