Short Thoughts

I find myself listening to many strong advocates of AI. I can feel the pull of the hype, and I can see how that exposure has subtly biased my expectations.

That bias became more apparent while listening to the podcast Vibe Coding Manifesto: Why Claude Code Isn’t It & What Comes After the IDE. As Steve Yegge described both his current practices and his vision of the future, I found myself increasingly skeptical.

Soon after, I encountered two pieces that pushed back against this vision. The first was The Future of Software Development is Software Developers, which reasserts the central role of software developers:

But, when it matters, there will be a software developer at the wheel. And, if Jevons is to be believed, probably even more of us.

The second, more forceful critique came from Rich Hickey in Thanks AI!:

When did we stop considering things failures that create more problems than they solve?

I have been a software developer for 25 years. My scope has been limited, and my projects have generally been on the smaller side. Over that time, I have learned where I have over-invested, making systems more complex than necessary, and where I have under-invested, missing opportunities as a result. I have also learned that I cannot keep up with every new innovation, nor should I try.

So what do I make of AI in software development?

I do see it as a powerful tool. People will use it in many different ways, and that experimentation matters. But these uses are still experiments. Their successes and failures will shape what comes next. Progress has almost always worked this way.

What feels different now is the perceived cost of hesitation. With AI, the fear of being left behind feels stronger than usual, especially given that caution is typically the default.

I count myself among those who feel that pull. My hope is to proceed with awareness, to experiment deliberately, and to form my own perspective through experience rather than hype.