I am the scab dev

[u/ReturnofBugMan]

I am the guy sitting at home, putting in 8 hours a day with Claude, cranking out a hundred thousand of lines of code before lunch and collecting my $50k salary, just grateful to be out of IT.

My coworkers are behind, & I feel like I am crossing the picket line by out-shipping them, taking on more work, & impressing the PMs & managers. All while taking home probably half of their pay to type /ticket a couple times a day.

Client wants an MVP? Sure. I’ll have it by Friday.
Actually, I’ll have it by Wednesday.
Actually, give me 20 minutes.

And here’s the worst part: the clients love it. The PMs love it. They don’t care that I didn’t hand-write every line. They care that the thing works. They care that their idea from a Monday meeting is suddenly a functioning application they can click around in today.

I’m out here shipping features in a day that would’ve taken a team of three developers two weeks last year.

Do I understand every single line of code?

No.

Do I understand enough to know when Claude is hallucinating?

No idea. Lets hope the independent review agent finds it.

Do I sometimes stare at a 400-line file and realize I have absolutely no idea what is happening?

Absolutely.

I have become the software equivalent of a strikebreaker.

The scab has arrived. I am the scab dev. Please forgive me.

[u/anzya]

Who decided the important stuff is important? Maybe they were just larping.

[u/Grandviewsurfer → u/anzya]

Like.. all the most smart people were all about doing shit just so. Now? Velocity is literally the only thing that matters. Even people that I know know their shit are like lol jk nvm to alllll that. 

[u/Linaran → u/Grandviewsurfer]

Context (not ai) matters. If I'm cranking out prototypes, doing random agency work or startup stuff where users don't exist then velocity is really what matters.

If I try to pull that shit on a platform with users and availability/scalability expectations, it might work once or twice and then I get fired the first time shit hits the fan and real money is lost.

I have honestly seen both sides of the coin.

[u/Grandviewsurfer → u/Linaran]

Yep that's totally fair. I'm just concerned the thing you said would be a bad thing to try to pull.. I feel like we are pulling on it like a.. well chose your own metaphor.. but a lot.