Losing the human experience of coding
I understand and reap many benefits of using LLMs to code: speed, learning, experimentation, automation, etc etc.
But sometimes I miss the feeling of working with a codebase manually and directly. I think it’s a combination of flow state, a sense of ownership, a certain kind of mindfulness, and a gentler pace.
When coding with an agent, I notice myself feeling impatient. I just want results. I want to see the agent go brrrr, the tests to pass, the feature added, and the work done. Why? Not sure. I guess to go on to the next task?
Writing code unassisted now feels so slow and takes more energy. It’s hard to justify. I find myself manually coding less and less. And it’s much harder to find that happy state when I do.
But maybe it’s healthy to do now and then? Like choosing to walk for fifteen minutes when you could just drive for two.
I have little doubt generated code is the new standard going forward. Sure, there are some practical drawbacks: slop, tech debt, energy costs, difficulty career paths for new engineers—to name a few. I think they’ve been explored elsewhere.
What I’m wondering about are the subjective experience changes, which I don’t believe I’ve seen discussed much. If we’re metaphorical woodworkers getting access to power tools, we’ll go faster for sure, but in our haste and our new roles as agent managers, do we lose the smell of the wood and the feel of the grain? Or is there a new sensation to be found?