Post

What's my advice, as An Old SWE, given <all this>? As a Jr SWE, I think it is in fact, still useful to force yourself to learn good algorithms and data structures and how databases work (like really) and how to code an inverted index by hand and all Stuff Claude can just Do For You. even in: foOM!

why? well first, the caveat: if you don't want to be a SWE, you don't need this at all, just learn to get good answers out of the models. and: we may not need anywhere near as many high-powered (and high paid) SWEs, soon. I have a prediction that we'll have a highly bimodal SWE distribution:

a smaller (than now) number of absurdly paid software veterans who know the insides of the algorithms, the models, the hardware, and know where the bodies are buried. They will be paid 7fig+ a vastly larger (way more than now) number of slop-cannons, -janitors, and -plumbers, paid fine: 50-100k

I keep seeing this idea that LLMs are going to have some effect or other on which skills/backgrounds are relatively valued in the labour market. But I think we're pretty clearly living through the death of labour in general. The centaur era won't last for much longer.