we don't have to live this way. senior engineers have the duty of building guardrails and teaching the next generation of programmers the practices that lead to high quality software. AIs may write most of the code, but you still decide what ships. we should never lose our taste for quality software. i made this analogy a while back: everyone can cook at home but yet restaurants still exist. the floor is rising, but so is the ceiling. the best software will always be made by those who care.
Jaana Dogan ヤナ ドガン
 @rakyll
Oct 31
Lately I’ve been feeling depressed because decades of our hard work is completely gone like it never existed. I heard from others that they also find it very hard to dial into the new norm of low quality software engineering.

Oct 31, 2025 · 11:32 PM UTC

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Replying to @potetotes
The way I look at it, the infrastructure and design that enables good engineering is more important than ever. This isn’t setback for engineers: it’s a chance to rebuild a lot of things that have been broken for a long time.
Joshua Levy
 @ojoshe
Jul 22
Replying to @ojoshe
Why LLMs are good at building features but human engineers need to focus on "infrastructure" engineering.
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Replying to @potetotes
If only the next generation of software engineers would get hired already. :( But yeah, I don't feel the same dread. I go to sleep exactly as tired as before so my brain must be doing something, and I produce a lot more.
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Replying to @potetotes
the real shift isnt AI writing code - its what gets valued we went from "ship quality" to "ship fast" to now "ship whatever AI spits out" but heres the thing: guardrails dont scale without intentionality. senior devs gotta be architects of constraints, not just reviewers. the question is whether orgs will pay for that discipline when velocity looks cheaper
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Replying to @potetotes
agree mostly, but some juniors learn faster by experimenting, strict guardrails can limit creativity
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Replying to @potetotes
Devs r under greatest pressure ever. It's deliver quantity, not quality. Even tech giant apps r slop lately. AI's great if you close eyes & sacrafice quality; else, not quite. I think you working on framework where quality is required isn't the same as avg dev (survivorship bias)
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Replying to @potetotes
the fear is that the act of using ai causes atrophy of skill. limited software creates great engineers great engineers creates convenience convenience creates bad engineers bad engineers create limited software
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Replying to @potetotes
The restaurant analogy is brilliant.
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Replying to @potetotes
Vibe coding is a cargo cult
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Replying to @potetotes
You just gotta land at a company with an engineering culture else you're cooked. If this isn't at a company you'll be expected to be churning stuff out at break neck speed because leaders will just have that expectation because they read somewhere that AI can just do everything and they won't listen to their engineers telling them otherwise. I'm gonna be picky as hell about where I work now for the remainder of my career.
Replying to @potetotes
What next generation? Hire more juniors!
Replying to @potetotes
Great thought but it makes you less likeable, as you will be perceived to be a hindrance in quick delivery from managerial and junior engineer perspective. AI coded PRs are the new challenge now. Have you found a way which makes it faster to deliver at same time ensuring quality.
Replying to @potetotes
I think what is meant by quality software will change in the future, like caring for user experience and DX/AI Experience, etc.
Replying to @potetotes
lol tell that to my CTO