As one of the curious minority who keeps trying agentic coding but not liking it, I've been looking for explanations why my experience differs from the mainstream. I think it might lie in this nugget:

    > I believe with Claude Code, we are at the
    > “introduction of photography” period of
    > programming. Painting by hand just doesn’t
    > have the same appeal anymore when a single
    > concept can just appear and you shape it
    > into the thing you want with your code review
    > and editing skills.

The comparison seems apt and yet, still people paint, still people pay for paintings, still people paint for fun.

I like coding by hand. I dislike reviewing code (although I do it, of course). Given the choice, I'll opt for the former (and perhaps that's why I'm still an IC).

When people talk about coding agents as very enthusiastic but very junior engineering interns, it fills me with dread rather than joy.