AI Is Not a Dev
3 tudorizer 9 8/19/2025, 12:17:23 PM
Within the single context of writing code, we've had quite a few attempts throught history to generate code. Often times within very rigid constraints.
GenAI is fits in the same space, but with extra steps, benefits and drawbacks. It's not "a junior dev". It's a new hammer.
The craftsman enjoys the new hammer, pushes its limits, nerds out about the intricacies. Tools have limits in terms of wear and tear, plus cost.
Junior devs are humans, looking to survive and flourish. They pick up new tools faster than most. The only barrier the same that has always been: access to said tools and visibility over the outcome.
What's the benefit of over-anthropomorphizing a hammer?
I'm sure people complained that hammers were a useless invention and why would anyone not want to keep using rocks.
When complexity grows and lines between boundries of what's what blur, opportunity for misunderstanding sneaks in.
We should welcome scrutiny, though.
Lowering dev salaries. Not a benefit to most of us, tho
On the flip-side, lists like "here are 80 agentic tools for your start-up" sounds like new opportunities for devs on quite a few dimensions, no?
I point at long such lists of tools only to indicate a certain level of complexity, which will most likely fall in the realm of "oh, this is too technical for me. I should delegate this to Alice, because she good with tech". This is only shifting the problems and problems mean opportunity.
Analogies have power.