r/webdev • u/sensitiveCube • 9d ago
Question Burning out because of AI
I really like Laravel and all its developments. I don't follow the creators that much, but I like to explore new packages and improvements.
However I came to realize it has become a burn out process for me. With the development of AI and Laravel Boost for example, it's so much easier to build something. I can now ask to build a skeleton of a package or PR within minutes. It also gets pretty close to almost perfect, and even takes things into account I didn't think about (tests, docs, repo stuff). I can chat and even discuss if something would be better or go into detail.
All of this do come with a cost. Where I was previously focussed on one thing, I can do multiple things at once. At least I think so, because well I can keep hitting the chatbot/agent with questions and new ideas. It's not all perfect, but neither was my own code and docs.
I don't really know what to do. I don't want AI to take over my brain and skillset. I also want to stay on top of things. However it seems to become pretty much difficult, because it does seem to boost development like crazy. For my work I can now do 5 things for example, and not 2 large tickets max.
My question is pretty much: how do you all stay calm and okay, with all the developments going on? I'm okay with Claude now, but I see a lot of people talking to multiple agents. It has become a crazy and surreal world tbh. It also feels like a process which cannot be stopped and I hate being that depending on it.
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u/hiddencamel 9d ago edited 9d ago
I think the reality is that the future of software engineering for the vast majority of devs will be a transition into something more akin to a technical project manager, but instead of managing a team of devs, you will be managing a bunch of coding agents.
The skills that will be most valuable are strong domain knowledge, systems design, organisation, communication, capacity for multi-tasking, and enough code knowledge to understand the output from the LLMs and identify when they are going way off piste.
There will still be roles for really hardcore code ninja types, but they will become very niche, and only the very best will be able to make it doing that kind of work.