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Comment by kylehotchkiss | Hacker News Reader

How many developers want to have usage analytics of their editors helping companies build functionality that aspires to replace them? This is silly.

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> How many developers want to have usage analytics of their editors helping companies build functionality that aspires to replace them? This is silly.

Honestly, too many. Software engineers can be really, really dumb. I think it has something to do with assuming they're really smart.

But even unwilling developers may be forced to participate (see the recent Shopify CEO email), despite knowing full well what's going on. I mean, tons of people have already had to go through the humiliation of training their offshore replacements before getting laid off, and that's a much more in-your-face situation.

The frustrating part is that this is another area where the realities of capitalism seem misaligned with anyone's well-being. Nobody wants to be out of a job, but doing the opposite of the Shopify CEO's strategy, like severely restricting AI usage, looks like a great way to ensure your competitors catch up with you and eat your lunch faster. I don't see any answers, just different ways to destroy ourselves.

I agree: the incentives to use more and more AI are too strong. We're all stuck in some form of the prisoner's dilemma and the odds that nobody will defect are much too low.

So it seems the most rational position is to embrace the tools and try to ride the wave before the gravy-train is over.

Developers know that AI will replace some of their coworkers. But only the "bad" ones who can't code as well as them. AI will learn from all of their good code and be used to generate similar code that's better than the bad devs but not as good as theirs. The problem is that every developer thinks that the coding bar is going to be just barely below their skill level.

Exactly. Software engineers can be really, really dumb.

All my colleagues think like this hypothetical developer. As others said: developers can be really, really dumb, no matter how long the've been in the game

> Honestly, too many. Software engineers can be really, really dumb. I think it has something to do with assuming they're really smart.

Maybe I am one of the stupid ones but I don't get you people.

This is going to happen whether you want it or not. The data is already out there. Our choice is either learn to use the tool so that we could have that in our arsenal for the future; or grumble in the corner that devs are digging their own graves and cry ourselves to sleep. I'd consider the latter to be stupid.

If you had issues with machines replacing your hands in the industrial age, you had a choice of learning how to operate the machines, I consider this to be a parallel.

It's not about having another tool in your arsenal. This thing is meant to replace you - the developer (role). Others are correctly pointing out that developers can be really really dumb by assuming that this A-SWE will be just below their skill level and only the subpar humans will be replaced.

> It's not about having another tool in your arsenal. This thing is meant to replace you - the developer (role).

You realize that it's what I am saying? Having the tool in our arsenal means being able to do another job (prompt engineering, knowing how to evaluate the AI etc...) in case we are made obsolete in the next couple of years. What happens after that is a mystery...

They're probably just short-sighted - take the easy win ("get more done in less time") now and worry about the future later.

> Honestly, too many. Software engineers can be really, really dumb. I think it has something to do with assuming they're really smart.

I've found the enthusiasm towards software that ostensibly aims to replace their skillset utterly bizarre.

Many of them likely won’t switch immediately. They could also try to keep them with sweet offers, like generous usage quotas, early access to the latest models, etc.

Once sufficient data is gathered, the next generation models will be among the very best at agentic coding, which leads to stronger stickiness, and so on.

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