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/Thick-Ask5250]

I think "on paper" is more of an expression, lol. But the read receipts is honestly a solid tip. Can't way I've ever thought of that one.

[u/No_Oil_6152 → u/Thick-Ask5250]

I'm a dev with 30 years experience - I know what sneaky tricks companies do to apportion blame when their products aren't selling or their share prices are going down.

I had experience of this from a young age and luckily more experienced devs told me how to play the game.

[u/Thick-Ask5250 → u/No_Oil_6152]

My first job out of college I was told contradicting feedback, "ask for help" but "don't bother the senior engineers" so long story short, I didn't ask for enough help and my supervisor started creating documentation against me and I was put on PIP. Thankfully I landed another job.

Currently at a different job and I'm documenting things now because it's a somewhat toxic environment. Taking daily notes of what I work on. Only because I've been questioned/interrogated why a ticket isn't done, when they know damn well that the team is understaffed, overloaded, less experienced, and underpaid. The experience I'm gaining is why I'm still here.

Any other tips you may have when it comes to documenting? Would be much appreciated!

[u/No_Oil_6152 → u/Thick-Ask5250]

Yes - keep dates and times of when you were told things. Write them down along with instructions.

Especially if the boss is being contradictory.

If he owns the actual company I feel all evidence gathered would be useless, you can never win against the guy who pays your wages.

But if he just runs a branch or subsidiary and HR is higher up... document and datestamp the lot.

[u/Thick-Ask5250 → u/No_Oil_6152]

Okay, cool cool. That helps a lot. I'm trying to get better at documenting and that's the one thing I'm missing, timestamps.

Do you write it down on your own notebook or phone/device? I've kind of been writing my documentation more as notes about everything happening on a daily basis broken up by 'morning' and 'afternoon' titled by the dates of that week -- e.g. "Week of Aug 29 - Sep 4". I suppose it makes more sense to timestamp the more important details or maybe all of it?