Hey all,
not sure if this is an ADHD thing, but it feels like it is. So, I’m a mid/senior level engineer who’s been coding professionally for a while now. Before LLMs dropped, I used to get a legit dopamine kick from fixing even the tiniest bugs and getting things to compile. Tedious debugging and diving into docs? Bring it on! It was all part of the fun.
But ever since LLMs came along, that spark has kinda vanished. I feel like my skills are fading by the day. It’s like I can’t bring myself to code manually or look things up anymore. I know exactly what to ask LLMs and how to fix issues, but the thought of doing it all manually? No thanks.
Now, the only time I get that dopamine hit is when I can implement entire features that should take days in just a few prompts. Anything less feels like a waste of time. I hate feeling so dependent on it, especially since I know the code it spits out isn’t always top-notch. I know how to fix it, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Especially tools like Cursor with its agentic coding make it even harder for me to leave prompts behind.
Coding used to be my passion, and now it feels like LLMs has messed with that while boosting my output. Anyone else feeling this way? Any thoughts or advice?
It’s a crutch. Some perspective introspection questions: Is it really boosting your productivity? If the LLM can do most of the nonsense being asked of you, maybe it is time to consider a new role with more challenge and skill required?
Mid career is the time to take on larger projects or deeper technical fixes/augmentations now that you have a solid foundation of skills. Without this kind of experience you’ll be one of those “seniors” that has the title because of tenure, but not because merit/skill.
I am undiagnosed ADHD and vibe coding just kills the magic. No longer am I in control. Can’t achieve flow if I am not the one actually doing the work. Vibe coding is really being a ((n) engineering, project, etc) manager and that takes a different, uninteresting skill set plus patience to deal with the computer’s fuck ups. I refuse to vibe code at work (fintech). Hell, I can’t even use the LLM autocomplete nonsense in Intellij because it confabulates API like a motherfucker.
While the thinking sand is amazing relative to unskilled, for those of us that know better, it is a really shitty junior dev that sometimes can’t even write code that compiles and will randomly fuck up other working code. And I just don’t have the time or the patience to deal with that shit.