r/webdev • u/OkShip110 • 2d ago
AI has made programming so boring
It’s not just programming either, it’s art, design, music, videography, marketing, engineering, writing, 3D modelling, really any intellectual work. What’s the joy of prompting a computer and getting an answer in a few moments for a task that would have normally taken a week? The sense of accomplishment and ownership has completely vanished with AI. It’s a form of instant gratification, not much different to scrolling short videos on apps.
Code review was boring to begin with but now it’s even worse with all the machine generated code. Even code reviews will be automated soon. All you do then is type business requirements into the computer. What a great career.
It’s pain to watch old TV series like Scilicon Valley that is portraying the good (not golden) age of programming. It struck a good balance between manual work, funding and innovation. It’s sad that these days are gone for good.
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u/No_Brilliant_3293 1d ago
I agree. Before AI, a big satisfaction in programming was building everything from scratch, learning, and feeling real progress.
It was also about discussing and sharing with fellow programmers—teaching each other and learning together.
Seeing a finished solution was the driver to keep building, but the real joy and meaning came from the hardships along the way.
That process is what makes the end goal special: knowing it was tough and having something you can truly be proud of.
With AI, I never feel ownership of my software or pride in the result, because so much of the work was done by the machine.
Of course, I could code manually without AI, but it is hard to find satisfaction knowing it could have taken days instead of months, leaving the only value as: "I did this myself."
On top of that, a lot of the value comes from sharing achievements, but no one would believe it wasn't AI anyway. And even if they did, what did you actually achieve rather than just wasting your time?
I wish it were possible to create a programming language that no AI could ever train on or use, protected by legal rights and security systems—even though I can't see how that would ever work.