There’s a worrying trend among talented tech pros today. It seems many of our brightest minds in software development are feeling a little lost. Trust me, this isn’t just a solo struggle. It’s becoming a broader issue tied to our increasing reliance on AI.
Recently, a very good buddy of mine, a CTO who still rolls up his sleeves to write code, tossed out a thought that hit hard: “Am I getting dumber?” He asked this while reflecting on his year-long adventure with AI in development. What began as a simple coding assistant with Claude turned into having junior AIs doing practically everything—from converting business needs into actual code to quality checks and deployment.
As a result, my friend shared his discomfort with how the AI was taking over coding tasks—but what really cut was when he found himself staring at some old code he wrote himself, shocked he couldn’t remember why it existed or how it worked. An operation that should have taken five minutes? It consumed most of his day. Ouch!
I can’t help but relate. This thing with AI can feel like that Wall-E scenario: tech does it all for you until your own abilities shrivel. And that’s what appears to be happening to our minds as communication centralizes and multitasking takes over.
This is Nothing New: The Cycle of Abstraction
Having navigated the world of software since before AI got cool, and having been part of the early AI-driven products hitting the market years ago, I’ve maintained that AI merely adds another layer to our current tech reality.
The takeaway here has always been that no amount of comments in your code can ever fully bridge the comprehension gap for someone who wasn’t there during the project. It doesn’t matter how bright you are; understanding a piece of complex code requires that you have been in the trenches, battling alongside it.
Shared Code, Shared Problems: Nobody Owns the Issues
By integrating AI as your coding assistant or doing a lot of the heavy lifting it can lead many to quote that inefficiency. Rather than understanding, we risk giving away ownership of the code—and thus the faults that come with it—with every AI line written.
My buddy’s experience is far from solo, and you’ll see more of us struggling with the implications that AI brings. Maybe you’ve caught vibes yourself—scrolling through threads on sites like Hacker News, reading posts reflecting on developers losing their grip or following articles that discuss how AI could dull critical thinking. All of this can feel a bit heavy.
Have We Entered the Phase of Frequent Breakdowns?
Here’s some unedited speculation for you. It feels like our app and web services are failing more than ever, doesn’t it? And oddly enough, when something does fail, the response time and clarity in communication seem notably diminished.
When I caught wind of the Google Home disaster, it struck me—where’s the accountability? Fearful mentions of problems and even lawsuits just cement that something’s off in our tech tribe. A dreadfully disturbing feeling of uncertainty begins floating when no one seems to understand what exactly ran amiss.
Rebuilding Quality Over Quantity in Tech
The solution sets forth are usually sound, rooted in prevention rather than cure.
I mean, in theory, it’s easy to shout out, “Only add what you truly understand to the codebase!” Believe me, I’m guilty on several fronts as I’ve waved the flag of Don’t Let AI Babysit The Code in my writing before.
But the real fix is painful and might be dismissed—it’s time to drag back in the seasoned professionals who’ve been shown the door from major tech companies down to smaller startups. Corporations out there are reckoning that their skilled staff were essentially dismissed as unnecessary—bad call!
We need those developers back; we need expertise amidst the codes. They don’t simply need to reacquaint with what’s changed—they must take charge of guiding those less seasoned powers that be before confusion reigns.
As we inch closer to reclaiming our tech stack is a necessity—chaos in apps can’t continue. Let’s not let another cycle of poor practices cost us more than just another broken service.
If you’re keen for interactive insights about tech, startups, and nerdy topics, feel free to sign up for more insights—while I may joke around, trust that these observations seed a deeper discussion.
This originally appeared on inc.com.
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