This is the right take IMO, so thanks for a balanced comment.
I would add a nuance from OPs perspective sorta: a close friend of mine works in construction, and often comments on how projects can be different. On some, everyone in the entire building supply chain can be really inspired to work on a really interesting project because of either its usefulness or its craftsmanship (the 2 of which are related), and on some, everyone’s, just trying to finish the project is cheaply quickly as possible.
It’s not that the latter hasn’t existed in tech, but it does appear that there is a way to use LLMs to do more of the latter. It’s not “the end of a craft”, but without a breakthrough (and something to check the profit incentive) it’s also not a path to utopia (like other comments seem to be implying)
Craftsmanship doesn’t die, it evolves, but the space in between can be a bit exhausting as markets fail to understand the difference at first.
I hope I'm not too late and this doesn't get buried - anyone interested should check out https://www.findhelp.org/ ! I work here and we are super hiring for engineers :)
Edit - ah, he means the search engine should be a non-profit. Not what I thought he meant.
Can also be a cover for bullshit artists. Some people take "fake it until you make it" as some kind of design for life, especially those with narcissistic tendencies.
I personally like to see a touch of humility in people I deal with. That, too, can be faked, but at least it leaves you with some idea about whether a job is going to get done.
> Some people take "fake it until you make it" as some kind of design for life, especially those with narcissistic tendencies.
The worst part is that it actually works - at least on scale.
Bullshit artists thrive on the "they look like they know what they're doing" vibe, because for most people, that level of confidence can only be achieved through hard work and dedication to the craft, so we assume that the person that confident must be very hardworking and very dedicated, or simply knows something that we don't.
It's a perceptional shortcut that we use because it works for us most of the time. In an unknown room full of unknown people, we instinctively search for someone who doesn't look lost.
Colleges giving new graduates even 10% of this context would completely change the game. I went in with a ton of passion but absolutely 0 guidance, ended up 6 figures in debt with a degree I only kinda use today.
As a Dev this looks like such a wonderful approach to me, but how do you get the customer on board with this? How do you get a nervous customer that doesn't trust you yet to enthusiastically work with you figure out what they want?
I would add a nuance from OPs perspective sorta: a close friend of mine works in construction, and often comments on how projects can be different. On some, everyone in the entire building supply chain can be really inspired to work on a really interesting project because of either its usefulness or its craftsmanship (the 2 of which are related), and on some, everyone’s, just trying to finish the project is cheaply quickly as possible.
It’s not that the latter hasn’t existed in tech, but it does appear that there is a way to use LLMs to do more of the latter. It’s not “the end of a craft”, but without a breakthrough (and something to check the profit incentive) it’s also not a path to utopia (like other comments seem to be implying)
Craftsmanship doesn’t die, it evolves, but the space in between can be a bit exhausting as markets fail to understand the difference at first.