I never understand why software engineers are so excited about AI as a whole.
If you are excited about the technology, sure. But if you are excited about the increase in productivity, unless you are a manager, I don't really understand it. Like, why? You are not working one hour less than before. If anything, it's more likely you'll get laid off and have trouble finding your next job.
There’s a natural desire for people to want to make things. Most of the time it’s physical: homes, crafts, woodworking. But for a few of us it’s ok for it to be non physical. Actually, that’s part of the allure of programming: you don’t need much more than a computer and some thinking to build incredibly intricate… things. AI is like a brand new power tool. It’s fun to use because you can build faster. I felt a sense of giddiness the first time I used a table saw after using a push saw my whole life.
I think a lot of us aren’t rational about it. I tend to feel excited about changes for which productivity is a side effect, even if it’s not my motivation. It’s hard to say no to extending my capabilities and insulating myself from the more boring repetitive tasks.
If your job was 80-90% shoveling and one day you were offered use of an excavator, wouldn’t you find that exciting even while realizing the shoveling part of your career is probably dead?
I've never had this much fun at work. There was nothing more that I disliked in my job than months long projects with everything already planned out in advance. It made work extremely predictable and boring, the project was already fully thought out, all that needed to be done was the boring bit of writing all the code that you already know how to write, all the fun of exploring different ideas and implementation directions was already done.
People sometimes mention this, but I have a hard time relating.
The amount of code you produce in months of just typing must be enormous, no?
To me it seems no matter the plan there's many unplanned things that I need to handle, and that's where the time is spent. I never had a day in my career where I knew exactly what had to be done and just spent it typing...
I'm not really following. Why is the problem you mentioned no longer a problem? Did your workplace change the way it plans projects now that AI is here?
Planning is the same, implementation time is just way shorter, so we can spend more time on things that are fun. The barrier to see if some outlandish idea works is also nonexistent now, you can generate a (non production ready, of course) MVP in an hour, where before it would take a few days.
>I never understand why software engineers are so excited about AI as a whole.
Dictating what to exist and what not to to the machine is a power fantasy that's not going to stick around for long, because we'll inevitably reach the point where no human is needed in the loop (or at least not as often as they needed today).
Most people finally feel how they would've felt like if they actually put deliberate practice for hours to work on something. That's why you see comments going "wow, I rewrote this in Rust, and I don't even know Rust". You get to feel like someone who outputs Rust.
rewriting something in Rust used to be "cool" because it was hard. What's the point in it now? How robust are the safety guarantees of something you didn't even write?
> I never understand why software engineers are so excited about AI as a whole.
I think it's mostly young graduates that have not been ground down by the wheel of labour just yet, and old/ex engineers that are able to build something after years of being out of practice.
Hard for me to be excited about being asked to do more for the same pay, to be measured on idiotic metrics, to compete with overconfident but inept people, when I'm reaching my 40s. I am at the peak of my engineering skills and the bottom of my patience.
Many of us do not particularly enjoy the work our employer has us do, nor believe in what the company we work for is trying to achieve. It's not like we get to choose its aims, and it's not like we have alternatives where we get to do so either. Our lives are spent working on someone else's goals.
> and it's not like we have alternatives where we get to do so either.
You can and should choose your employers. Saying you have no alternatives is disingenious. It's possible (and often worth it) to trade a big salary for meaning.
My employer significantly underpays us compared to the market, we could be (and many had been) earning multiple times more elsewhere, and yet we're happy to work there: we get reimbursed by meaningful work in a relaxed atmosphere.
In theory yes, but lots and lots of people will tell you how hard it is to switch jobs in real life, especially with personal circumstances.
A very simple example -- depending on your location, there can be very few employers you can choose from. Relocatiob is a major life decision.
Just talk to a few people, and that should be obvious.
Regarding the point in GP -- you can bet that most Meta employees don't believe in the company's vision, and they are just there for the (very good) paycheck. They are likely employable but choose not to.
That's fortunate for you that what you enjoy doing and get meaning from is capable of providing you a living via market income. That's not true of many others. I try to make time for what I enjoy doing and get meaning from. But for me as for many, it does not provide income.
If you are excited about the technology, sure. But if you are excited about the increase in productivity, unless you are a manager, I don't really understand it. Like, why? You are not working one hour less than before. If anything, it's more likely you'll get laid off and have trouble finding your next job.