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Tell HN: I Lost Joy of Programming

94 points Eatcats | 1 comments | 08 Jul 25 11:36 UTC | HN request time: 0s | 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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jon-wood ◴[08 Jul 25 13:03 UTC] No.44499574[source]▶
Have you considered not doing that? It's not obligatory to have an LLM shit out unreviewed code for you, you're making a choice to do that, and you can make a choice not to.

Review the code. Hell, maybe even write some code yourself.

What you're describing is how I feel whenever I use an LLM for anything more than the most basic of tasks. I've gone from being a senior level software developer to managing a barely competent junior developer who's only redeeming skill is the ability to type really, really quickly. I quit the management track some time ago because I hated doing all my software development via the medium of design documents which would then be badly implemented by people who didn't care, there's no way you're going to get me to volunteer for that.

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graealex ◴[08 Jul 25 17:41 UTC] No.44502267[source]▶
> managing a barely competent junior developer who's only redeeming skill is the ability to type really, really quickly

Hits the nail on the head. For an actual junior developer, they'd at least learn over time. With LLM, open up a new chat and you start with a new hire.

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1. jf22 ◴[09 Jul 25 15:44 UTC] No.44511467[source]▶
Most coding tools have rules or plan files that help provide context across chats.

I spend most of my time editing these files. It's as if I am training a junior dev.