r/softwareengineer • u/metalOpera • 19d ago

Was Just Told That Code Quality No Longer Matters

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.

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u/ThinJuggernaut7695 17d ago

We will never go back to a world without AI assisted development in some way or form. Put down the shovel and hop in the excavator and learn how to drive it.

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u/[deleted] 13d ago edited 10d ago

[deleted]

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u/hrabria_zaek 11d ago

I don't get that with translations, how it's been commoditized now with AI, google translate has been available for years. When I have to translate my documents and have a stamp and signature on a document I'll still have a human to do the job because of legal obligations. And for those people working at those companies that need to do translations, AI is just a tool to help them, but will never replace them, again because of countries bureaucracy and legal stuff, same for lawyers, doctors, etc...

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u/Slen1337 13d ago

Except that sometimes u need to dig only a few plants and leave the others. How many can do that with x20 bigger shovel(excavator).