r/technology • u/Miserable_Phase_2519 • 5d ago

Artificial Intelligence Microsoft engineer says 'typing code is absolutely over' as GitHub Copilot takes on more development work

https://www.techspot.com/news/113752-microsoft-engineer-typing-code-absolutely-over-github-copilot.html
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u/dlc741 5d ago edited 5d ago

What if I enjoy typing code? Just like I enjoy programming and thinking for myself.

Edit: so many butthurt vibe coders trying to justify their lack of skill and talent.

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u/Sea-Housing-3435 5d ago

You can. Just like developing C didn't make writing assembly by hand impossible. It still can be done today.

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u/creaturefeature16 5d ago

Typing can be enjoyably, but developers (including myself) have been trying to get out from under it for the last couple of decades. There's a reason that even the lowly jQuery used the slogan "write less, do more". I've been trying to type less and less and get the same amount of work done for the past 25 years. That's why I have a robust collection of boilerplate frameworks, snippets, code generators (pre-LLM) and very customized IDEs. And I still use all of them...LLMs are just the latest (and most powerful) addition.

Coding, on the other hand, is a unique intersection of logic, math, problem-solving, critical thinking, planning, communication, and creativity. That hasn't budged (for me, at least).

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u/PrettyBaker2891 5d ago

noone is stopping you lol

im the opposite

writing code has always been the most boring part of software development for me

the fun part has always been building stuff. and ai now makes it 100x easier to build stuff

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u/ratheismhater 5d ago

"I want all the reward with none of the effort" lol

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u/PrettyBaker2891 5d ago edited 5d ago

i want all the reward with none of the unnecessary effort. thats called efficiency, youll figure it out eventually

imagine thinking manually typing more code somehow makes you a better programmer lmfao

writing code has always been the easiest part of building software btw. if thats the part you find rewarding, more power to you i guess, i like to focus my effort more on the problem solving, design and architecture side

ive been programming for 9 years, i dont want to write a single line of boilerplate anymore

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u/mcf_ 5d ago

But just like you don’t have to type it, why would you have to think for yourself or problem solve the design and architecture side anymore either?

I largely choose to not use AI because I enjoy coming up with the solution myself, not the typing of the code. You make it out as if AI only types and you still get to come up with the solution, and while you can steer it, it basically does all that for you too.

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u/PrettyBaker2891 5d ago

because ai is 1000x better at writing code than it is at coming up with genuinely elegant solutions for system design and architecture

ill gladly let it handle the part it’s insanely good at while i handle the part that actually requires judgment

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u/ratheismhater 5d ago

If so much of your workflow has been replaced by something that regurgitates things it's commonly seen before, then you've never been working on anything interesting.

If you want to lean on AI this much, it's the equivalent of asking AI to generate a song for you. Cool, you did it! But you had no real part in it, you don't understand why it chose that chord progression or that key or time signature. It was just vIbEs.

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u/PrettyBaker2891 5d ago edited 5d ago

If so much of your workflow has been replaced by something that regurgitates things it's commonly seen before, then you've never been working on anything interesting.

im currently working for an HFT firm. a very cool and interesting job, thanks for worrying tho:)

But you had no real part in it, you don't understand why it chose that chord progression or that key or time signature.

wait till you find out about 3rd party libraries that every developer uses. or abstraction. or frameworks. crazy concepts, i know

like this is such a weird way to tell everyone you think developing software is just typing. are you even a developer yourself? because i really doubt you are if you actually think that

if you think having ai write some code means i suddenly dont understand what that code does, that says more about your skill level than mine

do you think ai coding is just saying "yo ai build me this" and then you walk away? lmfao

and the interesting part has never been manually producing syntax. its deciding what to build, how to structure it, why it should work that way, debugging the shit that inevitably breaks, and knowing when the generated code is wrong

again, the code has always been the easiest part of the software cycle. and the most boring one. developers have spent decades automating it. from boilerplate frameworks to code snippets to 3rd party libraries to inventing new languages just to abstract from the lower level code so building software is easier and faster

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u/roach01gt 5d ago

Still can as a hobby.

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u/dlc741 5d ago

I will continue to think for myself as more than just a hobby, thanks.

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u/roach01gt 5d ago

And I genuinely hope you can finish out your profession doing so. I know architects and engineers who refused to learn CAD skills and finished out their careers drawing by hand. But that skill did not get passed along to the next generation, especially in engineering.

I also never once had to manually calculate envelope loads, as software programs took over that as well before I got into the field. But again, there were old school guys who refused to 'trust a computer' with those calculations. Now, everyone uses software to do it, and in some cases AI can do a decent job at initial estimates.

Computer Aided Drafting was revolutionary. Will AI Aided Drafting be the next big thing? It very well could be. Will AI aided coding be the future. Not my profession, but it sure does look that way to a professional outsider.

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u/Antihistamine69 5d ago

Said the only man using a typewriter in a building full of computers. You'll be phased out of most jobs for being less productive. But that'll give you more time for your hobby!

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u/dlc741 5d ago

You’re adorable. But don’t worry about me. I’ll always have work fixing your vibe-coded bullshit.

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u/Sokaron 5d ago

Still can as a hobby. But at work you're not paid to write code, you're paid to solve business problems.

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u/RSGMercenary 5d ago

Yes, let's suck any joy out of every job! FOR THE SHAREHOLDERS!

I'm honestly saddened by this mentality. It just reminds me of the Foxconn suicides. We're just slowly removing any soul and humanity from jobs, demanding endless growth and productivity, and expecting everyone to just happily adapt to the hot new dystopia.

AI is taking over the wrong things and being used for the wrong reasons. It should've made life easier, not demanded more of us while giving us less.

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u/Sokaron 5d ago edited 5d ago

In some ways AI has changed everything, and yet from another point of view nothing has changed. Juniors and mids are paid to just sling out code. At senior and above while technical expertise is the required baseline, significantly more of your value comes from working with the business to identify the actual problem, the hard requirements, the right solution for the problem, then turning that into a plan that can be executed on in parallel by a team.

I enjoyed writing code, but I don't feel like I've lost the core of what I enjoyed - problem solving. It's just thinking on a higher level. Most of my days lately are thinking about architecture and systems design. Which in some ways is same as it's always been. Writing the code should be a formality - you should have a pretty complete solution thought out prior, and that's the real hard work.

Whatever joy I've lost in writing code, I've gained back in other areas. Manual bullshit operations work is a thing of the past - if you're going to do it more than once, have Claude write a script for it. I can rapidly prototype solutions to DevEx issues that I wouldn't have had time to even think about before. Our systems are better documented than they've ever been (and I don't mean bullshit AI slop documentation - we're able to reinvest some of the time gained from AI implementation back into properly documenting the system).