Discussion
Some biographical insight into what it is to be a coder, or until recently, in an era of AI mania and dreary automation. The human cost is quite real.
Says software engineer George Dover, now AI code reviewer, after being laid-off at Mailchimp:
“It’s very difficult to let go of something that was a large part of your personality for a good number of years [...] What else is there for me?”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/jul/12/software-developers-engineers-ai
Yes indeed focus on the craft will return, as will the recognition that truly novel ideas and approaches will not emerge from beige and bloated vibe code, itself often more expensive to review. But there will be a lot of pain and life eating PR's before that reality catches up with the mania of upper management.
I'm also interested in how this impacts all those kids out there today that have developed a natural fascination with computing; thriving when taught coding, perhaps seeing a future for themselves in it. There is future theft and loss there too.
@JulianOliver I think the only solution here is resistance to using AI and increasing union membership. Tech workers need unions now more than ever. The business models of OpenAI and Anthropic are such that they lose billions annually. It's not sustainable. At some point the bubble will pop.
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