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codyklimdev

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codyklim.dev cody.klimkofski@gmail.com

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I sent out roughly 1,000 job apps last year and I had maybe a dozen interviews. Expecting worse hit rates this year. For reference, I'm a mid level web dev with 4 y.o.e. I have lots of friends with similar resumes (or better in some cases) who can't get a call back to save their lives. So no, you're definitely not alone. Unless you have a best friend somewhere, or already have a senior title with more than 7 y.o.e., the door seems to be shut.

But hey, keep on paddling! We'll get there.

I haven't used them because I'm a big learn-by-doing guy that is constantly looking to expand or strengthen my skillset. Using a background coding agent takes all of the tinkering and debugging out of it, which is great if I just want results quickly, but completely counterintuitive if my goal is to become a better developer/engineer/architect/whatever.

From what I've seen it's easier with vibe coding / LLM tools to get a prototype built, but it's more difficult to initially flesh that prototype out and begin proper product development. Of course the business doesn't know this, or care, so I think the impact it has on the business overall is fairly negative.

If you make $10k/yr you could hire a contractor to refactor it for a few grand, maybe more. It'd be worth it not to shut it down wholesale.

Also I see some people are throwing their hats in the ring in the comments below, I'd be willing to take a look. My email is on my profile.

I've been wondering for a while if Sam is going to become an Elizabeth Holmes style figure with all of his talk about "a magic intelligence in the sky" and that in 5 years AI will replace 95% of marketing work. It seems like he's set up impossible promises, it'll be interesting to see what comes from their non-delivery.

LLMs Are Not Fun 7 months ago

If you're using your YouTube and TikTok addictions to build things that other people can use, go nuts

Stop Slopware 7 months ago

I like programming as a craft, but the kinds of coding I do for fun and the kinds of coding I do for profit look very, very different. So, for my work programming I use AI a lot more than I do in my own time.

After all, my work (for the moment) is just about pushing features to keep the PMs happy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I thought HN traffic got blocked on my work's network for a second, phew! My lunch breaks would've gotten a lot more dull.

I think beyond a certain level surplus IQ begins to cause problems. While still useful, the amount of self-sabotage and thought spirals the brain can generate with the extra power can cause neuroses and unhappiness on a larger scale than those less intelligent are capable of. Combine it with higher societal expectations and it's no great mystery to me why smarter people seem unhappier.

Just my thoughts anyways. I'm a dev, not a psychologist.

Very much agree on your last point.

I think finding out whether or not AI is actually boosting productivity is a problem of measuring productivity period, which at the very least my current company is pretty bad at. For a developer, is their productivity their lines of code produced, hours worked, project tasks completed per unit of time, agile points completed per unit of time, PRs reviewed, PRs submitted? In more human metrics, is it what their coworkers say about them, what leadership says about them, what customers say about them, testers, QA? The amount of bugs they fix, the amount of bugs they don't ship?

Sorry for the ramble, but apply this productivity measurement conundrum to entire corporations and it's no wonder that no productivity boost is being recorded. I'd be surprised if semi-accurate productivity measurements were taken in the first place.

I think a lot of the reasons for this is because AI helps provide a productivity boost to non-profitable sectors of most businesses, i.e. software development, finance, HR, etc. Since these departments do not directly drive profits, there's no visible bottom line to make meaningful observations on.

I do software for a retail company now and we've been having a similar debate: AI helps me and other departments do work more efficiently, but me getting a feature out the door faster is better for the business but doesn't get more products off the shelves. So, to the shareholders and the C-suite, is AI doing anything for the company?