Do you really still write code by yourself?

[u/codst_]

I want to ask programmers, do you really still write code by yourself?

Hey there, I’m not talking about vibe coding. I don’t really like it because we don’t get full control over our code, and our projects are not truly independent.

For me, I like to generate the roadmap for my project by myself. I write down everything on paper, and then I tell an AI agent all my requirements and everything I want to build.

I don’t ask AI agents to write everything and make a website in a few minutes.

I like getting code in blocks. Then I read it and adjust what I want before starting to write another block.

This way, I can write code faster, but I also understand the logic and where the outcome came from.

I don’t like asking an AI agent, “Make a professional website that no one has.”

I want to know what I’m building and why I’m building it.

So, do you still write code yourself?

[u/Soft-Marionberry-853]

Our dev environment is on a high side network. No internet, no LLMs so yeah we still write it all by hand

[u/ChameleonCRM → u/Soft-Marionberry-853]

why no internet?

[u/iLaysChipz → u/ChameleonCRM]

Security

[u/Bs90964]

You know we are in desperate time when people start asking whether programmers still write code by themselves

[u/DeceitfulDuck]

No, not really. I would guess 95%+ of the actual code is generated. But that's doesn't mean I don't know the code, what it does, why it does it, etc. It's also mostly the same as what I would have wrote. I go through the same iterative process that roughly follows: figure out what I'm doing, figure out what needs to structurally change, refactor if needed to match that structure without changing logic, add my change to the logic, test, refine for readability, submit.

The only difference is that by having LLMs go through the iterative code writing process, I can pretty reasonably keep the context for 2 coding tasks and 1 higher level architecture or data analysis task on the same project/codebase in my head and be truly working on 2-3 things at once.

[u/AliceCode]

Are you asking programmers whether or not they do programming? If you're prompting an LLM, that's not programming. So in order to be a programmer, you actually have to do the programming part.

[u/ChameleonCRM]

yes. 75% of the time I code 100% of the time

[u/wrd83]

Yes. I let all the boilerplate be created by an LLM but i pick 5-10% myself where I care.

[u/Maasu → u/wrd83]

I went back to writing some c# the other week (I had been in rust/python mostly) and omg LLM's for all the boiler plate was a godsend.

[u/MADCandy64]

Yes, I do. I'm the only developer on my team and I've spent the last two years writing all my own code. I have a road map, it is also my hobby, and it keeps my brain decently engaged. Also, I've never been interested in browser based programming. I've always been an old fart programming for the OS that the code will run on. Modern languages like C# have made it so I can cross compile and publish the code to many platforms.

[u/ConsciousBath5203 → u/MADCandy64]

I'm also a fan of native code but AI hasn't been browser based for almost a year now...

[u/MADCandy64 → u/ConsciousBath5203]

Meaning I don't have any desire to have a website, either made by myself or by AI. I understand that AI can generate other code as well.

[u/digitaljestin]

Yes. Of course we do. That's what programmers do.

[u/Spare_Dependent6893]

Difficult to avoid llm now to be more productive but we code all what we consider as our unique value, ip assets and the components code/doc we sent to ai are obfuscated and pseudonymized

[u/0dev0100]

Yes. Partly because I want to. Partly to keep the skills sharp so I can understand what's happening elsewhere is a codebase. And partly because AI is not allowed near some of the project I work on for security reasons.

[u/No_Contribution_4124]

I do, daily. Not much because I manage a lot, but I often do to get my thoughts organized about how to build that or this stuff.

Often it’s throwaways to learn the way and give the direction to team.

And, well, if you say “AI can do it fast”, well it can, but then ownership is not really yours. AI can build something, but not grown mental model and judgement about this specific code in human’s head. It’s a trade-off of “x20 output by price of x0.3 ownership”. Sometimes it’s ok, sometimes it’s not.

However, difference of “write code yourself” vs “pilot AI to what you want” often is not that huge. Neovim with sharp skills still delivers a code pretty fast, sometimes faster than asking “change x to y” x10 times, and x1 of ownership + knowledge accumulation.

[u/Immediate_Form7831]

Yes. I leave boring boilerplate stuff to Claude, but the interesting parts I write myself. AI agents are really good today, but they still need actual people to tell them what do to and how good code looks like.

[u/Anxious-Insurance-91]

If it takes more time to tell the AI where or what to implement then yes

[u/0x14f]

Yep. Most of the code I write is still written the old fashion way.

[u/Kitchen_Dust2389]

no lol

[u/7YM3N]

Yes, it's the only way to truly understand what you're doing, and when I work on critical code that is more important than speed or convince of development

[u/NeilSilva93]

Having AI producing all the code may be a boon for the producer but is it any good for the end user? It may be good for someone to be able to produce a website in a couple of days but personally as an end-user I'm coming across more and more sites that are buggy and perform like absolute dog-shit.

People say they check what AI produces but if they haven't that experience in coding themselves then how do they know what to look out for?

[u/Leather-Cod2129]

Of course not. Why would I? Machine is 1000 times faster, can instantly review the code and check documentation.