I live in Poland, and there are 60,000 tech companies in Poland, including about ten "unicorns" (private companies valued at over $1 billion).
After several months since the so-called "AI drama," and after watching how 37% of Polish companies reported laying off staff after implementing AI or automation in the past year, and managed to eliminate nearly 27% of tech jobs in the United States between 2021 and 2024, I’ve come to a personal conclusion: I love programming too much to let any of that truly matter. Whether Mr. AI exists or not is irrelevant to me.
The truth is, it doesn’t make much of a difference if AI takes over jobs across the globe. My love for coding is not rooted in competition, productivity, or even recognition. It’s rooted in the art itself—the beauty of constructing something from nothing, of breathing logic and structure into a blank file until it becomes a living, functioning piece of software. I don’t care if AI systems like ChatGPT, Windsurf, or whatever comes next can do it a hundred times faster and a thousand times better. That’s not the point for me.
For me, engaging in the act of programming—whether it’s building an automation tool, experimenting with machine learning, or simply writing a script that saves me five minutes a day—is one of the purest forms of creation I know. It is, in its own way, a form of poetry made of logic, structure, and imagination. I’d even go so far as to say: even if nobody ever saw it, used it, or appreciated it, the act of creating it would still be worth every second.
Because at the end of the day, programming is not just about utility or outcomes—it’s about expression. Just as a painter doesn’t abandon their brush because a printer can reproduce images more accurately, I won’t abandon code simply because AI can generate it faster. For me, it’s not about being the best or the fastest; it’s about being in love with the craft itself.
And maybe, in a world where machines increasingly take center stage, holding on to that human passion—our irrational love for doing something simply because it feels right—is more important than ever.
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Top comments (37)
Hey, I watched your Rust tutorial a while back.
Love your attitude here! Recently came to a similar conclusion myself.
Hey Andrew, I hope you've found my Rust course useful to you; and thank you for your kind words.
I'm also glad that I'm not the only one who thinks that - Cheers.
This hit me in the feels. I love what you said about programming being art, structure, and imagination, and not giving up coding just because things get fast or automated. I’ve walked that path too, building orchestration around Claude, and then creating ScrumBuddy so that the chaos of ideas → backlog → UI → backend → PRs gets shaped, not scrambled.
What you said about lying awake nights thinking “but this is still beautiful despite AI”, that’s what keeps the spark alive. It’s the difference between being driven by tools and being driven by passion. Thanks for writing this reminder.
One question: how do you stay anchored in craft when you have deadlines and partner/business pressure? I’d love to hear what routines or constraints help you protect that love of code when the rubber meets the road.
Hey, thanks for sharing that—it means a lot.
For me it’s mostly small daily habits: a set time to tinker with code that isn’t tied to a deliverable, even if it’s just 20 minutes.
I also keep one “pure fun” side project alive so deadlines don’t swallow everything.
That little pocket of play keeps the craft feeling like mine, not just the client’s :)
I love that approach. It’s such a good reminder that keeping the spark alive doesn’t always mean carving out giant blocks of time. Even 20 minutes of “non-deliverable” tinkering builds that muscle and keeps coding yours, not just your clients’. And the “pure fun” side project? That’s gold. Deadlines will always be there, but giving yourself that pocket of play is exactly what protects the craft from becoming just output. Really inspiring to hear how you’ve built those habits in.
This resonates deeply with me.
Your perspective reminds me of similar transformations throughout human history.
Take blacksmithing, for example. For centuries, blacksmiths were fully immersed in their craft - they knew every nuance of how metal behaves, could feel the exact moment to strike, understood the subtle changes in color that indicated perfect temperature. Today, massive factories with assembly lines produce what no human could replicate by hand. Yet there are still artisan blacksmiths creating unique, artistic pieces. They're rare, but they exist because they're driven by the same love for the craft that you describe.
I see programming going through the same evolution.
Speaking personally, I also love creating software, but I have no desire to dive deep into every line of code anymore. With so many different technologies and languages today, it would be overwhelming. I started programming back when Pascal was the go-to language and AI existed only in science fiction stories.
Now, with AI assistance, I can work with any popular tech stack. And for me, it's still pure creativity - just at a more abstract level.
AI hasn't killed my passion for programming; it's elevated it. I'm now architecting ideas rather than wrestling with syntax. The art is still there, just expressed differently.
That’s a great way to put it. I like the blacksmith parallel—craft shifting from pure hands-on to something more conceptual, but the spark staying the same.
I still enjoy getting my hands dirty with code now and then, but I get what you mean about working at a higher level. AI hasn’t dulled the fun for me either; it just changes where the creativity shows up.
I will quote you for a second and replace it with my personal experience:
Whenever I feel discouraged, I think back to those old computers and the thrill of making something move on the screen.For me it is like this:
Whenever I feel discouraged, I think back to those times when I could just make the alert popup in JavaScript work and see the little message on the screen. It felt empowering.
Now after exactly one year of coding, I realize I learned a lot, but AI put a lot of pressure these days.
Thank you for reminding to never stop enjoying it, no matter the dramas we have to face and how tech evolves in time.
This is beautiful to read—thank you, Alexandru.
As much as I love Python and C, JavaScript is still the most fun language out there. Totally subjective, but I bet plenty of folks would back me up on that.
Thank you for sharing this article.
I love programming on my own, but I also enjoy programming with AI because it gives me ideas I could never imagine by myself.
I want to keep enjoying both—programming alone and programming together with AI.
Awesome!
I still use AI for sure, but to a very limited extent, if i cannot debug a certain block, or if i want to brainstorm ideas, sometimes it helps me structuring a project as well; so I'd say I'm almost the same as you.
Hi! I’m glad to read your post! You’ve brought up a very important topic that many of us struggle with. Unfortunately, artificial intelligence can become both a little mentor and also an enemy.
A mentor because it gives you tips when you’re stuck in a bug, and an enemy because it’s starting to replace us in almost everything...
That’s exactly why both of these extremes should be avoided as much as possible, so that mentally we can still enjoy what we do. We should continue to enjoy the art of coding without pressure and with pleasure.
Thank you for this post.
Thank you, Theodora, for your sharp insights. What you’re saying reminded me of a Lex Fridman podcast episode with DHH: youtube.com/watch?v=6i5hvNA72ZU
I recommend giving it a watch. DHH talks about how AI tools are shaking up the programming world and argues that if you rely on AI to generate all your code—not just parts of it—you’re not really programming.
Curious what you think after watching :)
Love this! It’s refreshing to see someone coding just for the joy of it, not for pressure or competition. How do you stay motivated when AI tools are doing so much for developers these days?
Thank you! I was born in the eighties and spent countless hours on my Atari 800XL - when I wasn’t in school, of course - playing Pacman, King Kong, Space Invaders, and Missile Command. I’d flip through the bundled Atari books and program little animations in BASIC, always wondering what it would take to create a game like Space Invaders myself.
That spark never really left. Even with today’s AI tools, the kid in me who loved writing 2d games is still there. Whenever I feel discouraged, I think back to those old computers and the thrill of making something move on the screen. It’s a personal story, but maybe it gives you a bit of the same inspiration.
Hey! Same here, from Spain. I started with a ZX Spectrum in the eighties, and I love programming by itself, like you. I love to see something moving on the screen too!
Awesome! My cousin - now working in the Valley - also had a Sinclair. He’s the one who sparked my love for computer science when I was a kid. Every year his parents visited from Canada, they brought him stacks of PC Magazine. I’d borrow them, staring at those PCs and massive CRT screens. It felt amazing then, and honestly, it still does when I think back on it.
I couldn't agree more with this 🔥
I so much agree with you!, I love programming for the art, and AI isn't discouraging me at all, it's even making the process all the more fun
That's the spirit, my friend
Hey, i like this quote " Just as a painter doesn’t abandon their brush because a printer can reproduce images more accurately" breaking away from the wave of pessimism swirling around the AI drama.
Thank you for this. I hope this positive spirit reaches those who may have felt discouraged over the past several years - especially since mid-2023 - by the rapid rise of AI.
The so-called "AI invasion" has made it possible for non-specialists to create things they may not fully understand (true story of a colleague of mine in office), simply by giving a few instructions in what’s now called 'prompt-coding.
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