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214 points Brajeshwar | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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cc62cf4a4f20 ◴[] No.45092475[source]
I've been coding professionally for almost 30 years. I use Claude Code heavily, even for larger features. To get that to work half-decent, you have to take on a PM/Tech-lead role, you're no longer a senior engineer.

For large pieces of work, I will iterate with CC to generate a feature spec. It's usually pretty good at getting you most of the way there first shot and then either have it tweak things or manually do so.

Implementation is having CC first generate a plan, and iterating with it on the plan - a bit like mentoring a junior, except CC won't remember anything after a little while. Once you get the plan in place, then CC is generally pretty good at getting through code and tests, etc. You'll still have to review it after for all the reasons others have mentioned, but in my experience, it'll get through it way faster than I would on my own.

To parallelize some of the work, I often have Visual Studio Code open to monitor what's happening while it's working so I can redirect early if necessary. It also allows me to get a head start on the code review.

I will admit that I spent a lot of time iterating on my way of working to get to where I am, and I don't feel at all done (CC has workflows and subagents to help with common tasks that I haven't fully explored yet). I think the big thing is that tools like CC allow us to work in new ways but we need to shift our mindset and invest time in learning how to use these tools.

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1. paulcole ◴[] No.45092904[source]
> To get that to work half-decent, you have to take on a PM/Tech-lead role, you're no longer a senior engineer.

But you’re saying it can be half-decent?

The problem is that about 75% of HN commenters have their identities tightly wound up in being a (genuflect) senior engineer and putting down PM/tech-lead type roles.

They’ll do anything to avoid losing that identity including writing non-stop about how bad AI code is. There’s an Upton Sinclair quote that fits the situation quite nicely.

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2. tbrake ◴[] No.45093029[source]
Kinda but kinda not.

I'd agree that 75% you speak of is generally hostile to the mere concept of PMs, but that's usually from a misapplication of PMs as proxy-bosses for absentee product owners/directors who don't want to talk to nerds - flow interruptions, beancounting perceived as useless, pointless ceremonies, even more pointless(er) meetings etc, and the further defiling of the definition of "agile".

But a deep conceptual product and roadmap understanding that helps one steer Claude Code is invaluable for both devs and PMs, and I don't think most of that 75% would begrudge that quality in a PM