One thing AI did take away; I love reading source code written by other people. Node modules, plugins, LUA, python scripts... whatever. I loved seeing how people organized their logic, named their variables, the flavor of their comments... all of it. I learned so much diving through the source code of all the major tools.

Now it's all AI generated. You don't know if you're reading a novel human's take on a pattern or an LLM's attempt to reproduce. Worse; even if the AI presented something novel it produces at such a rate it's a needle in a haystack.

I feel cautious of any claim people make about their use of AI. I'm not even anti-AI; I use it. But at minimum wish there were a mechanism to know where the lines were.

They are talking about the enjoyement. AI did disolve a lot of the meaning and magic behind pure code exercises.

What felt like a creative endeavor now feels and is even more treated by society and other software engineers as grossly mechanical.

And to me too that hurts. I think a lot of people whose identity or passion was tied to this feel like that.

It is very much a "what is painting purpose now that photography exists ?" or "what is craft in an era of industrial mass production" moment for some of us. There are answers but finding them require exploration and being willing to change what we are

I think that's their deeper point

So much life enjoyment is tied to feeling competent and respected. Seeing a new, more talented challenger on the horizon is bound to be discouraging to some extent. It's like going from high school to college all over again: you used to be the top of your class, now you're surrounded by people just as competent as you.

> You're still allowed to do things the old fashioned way you know.

Not if your company decides to be "AI-first" and puts agent use on your job results.