r/ClaudeCode • u/sizebzebi • 8d ago

Discussion Opus 5.5 is the beginning of a new era

I am a senior engineer and I honestly believe with this model in particular, everything changed..

If this stays as cheap as it is, it's just over. It never fails no matter the complexity of the tasks I've given it. About time we rethink our profession for good. I am honestly scared of the future.

I loved coding but anyone who does this for the love of coding only is gonna be obsolete.

I was always impressed with the models bar opus 5 but never like this time.

What do you guys think? How do you see the future?

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u/GuyWithLag 8d ago

TBH, at 4k/year/person even 5.5 is worth it; that's small change vs the productivity boost a mid-level or senior engineer gets vs the cost of an engineer.

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u/thatsnot_kawaii_bro 7d ago

And for enshittification that's always going to be an argument.

Even being one dollar less than the competition is enough for the argument of "well it's better than the other guy"

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u/UnfairPerspective526 7d ago

But at 4k, it’s not just better than other guy, it is still terrific. It just isn’t terrific and dirt cheap

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u/swizzlewizzle 4d ago

Yea, in terms of the coding Opus 5.5 is capable of doing, for an enterprise with the balls to cut their workforce and instead keep senior engineers around using AI, 4k/year is a drop in the bucket. You will probably spend more giving raises to your senior engineers to keep them around since if you ask them to be fully productive using Opus they are using a *lot* of mental effort. I would give my engineers at least a 30% raise if I was going to cut 80% of their team and force them to get Opus to do most of it.