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Comment by JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B | Hacker News Reader

I have the same issue with young software engineers. We used to install every Linux distro because it was fun. Junior are now scared of the command-line.

Another example that I see all the time: I recently had to review a pull request from a junior. 200 lines of very simple C++ doing almost nothing, you can't fail that. I had to write more than 50 suggestions and comments on very basic stuff that the guy should have learned when he started coding. Yes, they must learn the ropes, but it seems like the passion is not there. We used to be passionate about coding, and all I see is people who went to private college to make money but don't enjoy what they do.

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I was a hobbyist programmer installing all sorts of Linux and BSD distros on my computers since the age of 10. My first real software job still had me go through a period where I had 50+ comments on some of my initial changes because life before work doesn't really prepare you for what you need to know on the job. If they aren't learning from your feedback and constantly making the same mistakes then I understand, but it's somewhat misguided to expect folks to simply know a lot early in their career.

Heck even folks coming in with experience, but from a company with a very different coding culture or simply a different primary language can result in the same situation.

Do you/they learn is the question. Not programming but a different role in tech but I’ve had a recent intern who did a very competent job and vacuumed up feedback and opportunities to learn. And I’ve had a longer tenure person who moved in from a different type of role at a different company who… did not. And just couldn’t appreciate how what they were creating was a net time sink for everyone else. They didn’t last.

That’s what happens when a niche profession goes mainstream.

The concentration of passionate curious computer tinkerers is much lower.

Programming hasn't been niche in over 25 years.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LEU0254477200A

Niche-ness isn’t a hard metric, but the argument is the same for “this is what happens when a profession hits a critical mass of people just in it for the money and not at all for the enjoyment of the profession.”

lol, i'm reinstalling a linux distro right now just because I want to try a new one

I work with seniors that are scared of the command line. I can somewhat understand why Microsoft might be trying to turn everything into AI Copilots because when I'm trying to explain to someone how to revert changes in a file with `git reset/checkout` they practically recoil in terror at the suggestion of using the terminal. They are married to their git guis and have no idea how it works. Best AI-ify as much as possible to keep people in their ecosystems.

> Junior are now scared of the command-line.

But are they any less productive? My experience is no. I was a command line aficionado when I entered the workforce, but I saw several people get the same results as me in a purely GUI environment. I see the same today. They get shit done and that is what is required. I feel like older devs romanticize certain parts of their workflow too much.

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