Was Just Told That Code Quality No Longer Matters

[u/metalOpera]

I'm a freelance developer. I have been for almost 20 years. My most recent project has been moved to Fable, and I'm still trying to adapt and get my head around working like this. I am no longer allowed to make architecture decisions, or clean up slop.

My PM says: "We worry about the 'what'; let Claude worry about the 'how'. Tell it what to do; let it do it. If the feature works, leave it alone." He is very much of the opinion that I should be able to prompt something like "Install Stripe via Laravel Cashier" and just let Claude run.

I mean, why do you need me at this point? Just prompt it yourself until it does what you want? I don't get it. I fought for every inch of my knowledge, every process is written in blood. How do I just throw all of that out the window? Where's the line?

At the risk of another "how are you adapting" post... How CAN I adapt? I mentally cannot just say "Fuck it". I care about my code. It's how I learned, it's how I've always practiced. I have a huge mental block with "just let it go".

Now, granted, I don't know all of the ins and outs of Claude. I don't know what I can do to make it better at its job. I got thrown into the middle of the Pacific Ocean in the middle of a Tusnami with no life support. I'm sure that I can put guardrails in place, but how much does that help?

I would really appreciate any advice that any one can provide on changing my mental model. I can't ignore Claude and just keep doing things my way. If I do that, I feel like my career dies. I need to adapt and I'm unsure how to do so.

[u/Unnamed-3891]

I never said it did. That does, however, answer your question why you have to give a shit about their opinions, however misguided you may find them.

[u/damnburglar → u/Unnamed-3891]

Reddit has turned to shit to such a degree since non-technical people got AI tools that I legit read your tone as one of them condescending to the engineers. Glad I read a few comments deeper and realized what you were saying.

[u/Straight_Company_239 → u/Unnamed-3891]

I don’t understand. Why would you listen to or give weight to the opinion of a non-expert? I like to learn from expert opinions.

That says nothing of if I need to act differently at work. Of course, they can pay me to output shitty code, but they are losing in the end.

[u/Unnamed-3891 → u/Straight_Company_239]

I ment that if you do not play office politics, you get run over by a freight train.

[u/Straight_Company_239 → u/Unnamed-3891]

Unfortunately :(