I learn faster with llms

I have been using code generation LLMs pretty much since they've come out. I couldn't justify the cost of codex - but when chatGPT first dropped, I wrote my own puppeteer script to make a pretend API. It was really bad, but it kept on getting better, and better. And strangely - the rate of my skill improvement started getting faster, and faster.

I often speak to younger folks trying to make a career for themselves. I did a presentation at my university, last fall. I spoke about code gen LLMs, and advised them to use them.

Something surprised me: multiple people pushed back against using them. For some, it was sourced from some odd self defeating morality, but for others, a fear. They feared not being able to learn, they feared becoming dependent.

Dependent on what? Engineering isn't remembering random SQL builtin trivia

Reading code is a much faster way to becoming a better programmer

And the fastest programmer we have available are code generation state of the art LLMs

I could be doing The Startup Thing full time, but during my big tech wagie break, I found myself missing it. I missed the scale, and I missed the other engineers. I missed reading code.

The vast majority of my time, as a software engineer, is not spent programming. Honestly, hand programming isn't a good use of my time. I'm incredibly happy that we've almost entirely automated it away.

Most of my time is spent *reading code* and logs. This skill is immensely more valuable to me than being able to remember syntax.

Re writing code; once you acquire the skill of being able to think computationally (unfortunately, leetcode), the rest of the skill is really just trivia. The interesting stuff is engineering, which is not at all related to the toil of hand writing code. Being able to understand how data flows through machines - that is the job of a software engineer.

Coding, like punch cards, will go away. But engineers are here to stay

LLMs help you understand things quickly

Think carefully about how to use LLMs. Use the LLMs to help you write throwaway code that can help you understand the state of the actual code. Everything from greps, to generating graphviz dot DAGs to quickly understand how data or dependencies flow

Do you understand? The most important skill isn't creation. Creation has been commoditized.

What is important is speed of understanding - so you know what to create in the first place.

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Thanks for reading!