We’ve seen this before in the form of the Arts and Craft Movement in the mid-late 19th century, as a response to industrialism.
Arts and Craft did exquisite work, but it was ultimately slow to produce, incredibly expensive, and only attainable by the wealthy.
(Art history 🤘)
There's some senior engineers on here who, in the face of AI changing the very structures this industry is built on, present themselves as Stewards of the Craft of Programming.
Bugs the hell out for me.
They keep alluding to the virtue of doing things by hand, the value of Good Code and of craftsmanship, saying that yes, AI might change some things, but hey it won't ever change the value of something done with proper care, by hand, just like in the olden days of 2024. Most everything that was Good back then is still Good now: deep knowledge of languages and systems, good code, great architecture. You know the sermon.
And, yes, some of that *is* true. At least I think so. But we don't know, because no one truly knows what will be important in the future.
We're going through times of great change and I think the best advice to give to young people and others who want to have a job and provide value is: keep your eyes open, rethink from first principles, derive from what businesses value what you can provide; the digital world is more malleable than ever, you should rethink how you can help shape it.
All this pounding on the Bible of Good Code seems to me to be doing the opposite: it lets people feel comfortable -- what I've valued all my life is still valuable, I can rest easy -- in times when one shouldn't feel comfortable. This is a bumpy, exciting, strange ride. If you lean back you might fall off the waggon.
Let's not delude ourselves and others that we can keep doing what we've been doing. Rethink it all.
And, like I said, it bugs the hell out of me seeing senior engineers (that are secure in their career) talking as if there's nothing *really* to change, because the Fundamentals will still be valued. They might!
But it's the wrong advice to not rethink everything right now.