Based on the absolute trash I usually get out of ChatGPT, Claude, etc, I wouldn’t say that it writes “working” code.
And, maybe that is the difference. Non coders can use AI to help build MVPs and tooling they could otherwise not do (or take a long time to get done). On the other hand, professional coders see this as an intrusion to their domain, become very skeptical because it does not write code "their way" or introduces some bugs, and push back hard.
If you want to use concrete to anchor some poles in the ground, great. Build that gazebo. If it falls down, oh well.
If you want to use concrete to make a building that needs to be safe and maintained, it's critical that you use the right concrete mix, use rebar in the right way, and seal it properly.
Civil engineers aren't "threatened" by hobbyists building gazebos. Software engineers aren't "threatened" by AI. We're pointing out that the building's gonna fall over if you do it this way, which is what we're actually paid to do.
The flip of this is to understand and appreciate what the new tooling can help you do and adopt. Sure, junior coders will face significant headwinds, but I guarantee you there are opportunities waiting to get uncovered. Just give it a couple of years...
I legit don't know any professional SWE who feels "threatened" by AI. We don't get hired to write the kind of code you're writing.
I’m tempted to propose a new law—like Poe’s or Godwin’s—that goes something like: “Any discussion about AI will eventually lead to someone insisting it can’t match human programmers.”
Seeing an AI casually spit out an 800 lines script that works first try is really fucking humbling to me, because I know I wouldn't be able to do that myself.
Sure, it's an area of AI advantage, and I still crush AI in complex codebases or embedded code. But AI is not strictly worse than me, clearly. The fact that it already has this area of advantage should give you a pause.