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Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

94 points Eatcats | 3 comments | 08 Jul 25 11:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source

Small confession

I’ve been using Windsurf editor for about six months now, and it does most of the coding work for me.

Recently, I realized I no longer enjoy programming. It feels like I’m just going through the pain of explaining to the LLM what I want, then sitting and waiting for it to finish. If it fails, I just switch to another model—and usually, one of them gets the job done.

At this point, I’ve even stopped reviewing the exact code changes. I just keep pushing forward until the task is done.

On the bright side, I’ve gotten much better at writing design documents.

Anyone else feel the same?

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rvz ◴[08 Jul 25 12:54 UTC] No.44499501[source]▶
> At this point, I’ve even stopped reviewing the exact code changes. I just keep pushing forward until the task is done.

How is this the future of software engineering?

replies(1): >>44499587 #
shafyy ◴[08 Jul 25 13:05 UTC] No.44499587[source]▶
Because capitalism
replies(1): >>44499611 #
marginalia_nu ◴[08 Jul 25 13:08 UTC] No.44499611[source]▶
How is capitalism causing this?
replies(3): >>44499640 #>>44499792 #>>44580310 #
1. add-sub-mul-div ◴[08 Jul 25 13:30 UTC] No.44499792[source]▶
Why should labor care about the quality of their work when management also does not because it's hard at the prospect of the largest displacement of labor in history?
replies(1): >>44499835 #
2. marginalia_nu ◴[08 Jul 25 13:35 UTC] No.44499835[source]▶
Well I believe the thread you're commenting in has answered that question.

Programming is also the field where it's the easiest to strike out on your own. Seizing the means of production in programming amounts to grabbing a $200 laptop.

replies(1): >>44580296 #
3. shafyy ◴[16 Jul 25 09:20 UTC] No.44580296[source]▶
> Seizing the means of production in programming amounts to grabbing a $200 laptop

This might have been true in 20 years ago, but not anymore. Sure, you can produce an app with a $200 and your time (which, by the way, has opportunity costs, which are the main "means of production" in programming), but who is going to pay you for it? Now, you need marketing. For marketing, you need capital. Or more time, which means more opportunity cost.