It's quite scary how reluctant I feel to dive into JS or Python coding since I started watching Claude Code do it. I'm happy enough to guide the process and examine changes made to the code, but actually spending hours writing the stuff - meh. All this in a couple of short months. Years of practice are as nothing. I've been reprogrammed.
I wonder how many others feel the same way once they too have been utterly outclassed by AI. Some still carry on wanting to do it but I suspect they're in a minority that's shrinking daily.
It's a bit like crafts such as woodworking or embroidery. Some do them as a hobby, for fun or for relaxation, but as soon as productivity becomes an issue there's no way you're ever going to compete. Better to develop the ability to guide the process, spot errors and help fix them. Your experience is not lost - it transforms into new skills.
For example, one of the new must-have skills is the ability to speed-read. There's no way you can follow Claude's thinking without it, as it's almost impossible to study each sentence as the screen scrolls past. You need to use pattern-recognition that works on large blocks of moving text. Some are better than others at this but we're all able to do it - we just need to practice.
The fact is, few of us are the coding gods we long believed ourselves to be. Programming is something that has always made us stand out from the crowd. If we're going to maintain that distinction we have to adapt. Fast.
A good friend of mine is a proofreader by profession. He can spot swapped letters or a misplaced apostrophe in a full page of text at a glance. Musicians can hear a duff note from a single instrument in an orchestra. Likewise, most good programmers can home in on poor code instinctively and without even thinking about it. Our coding skills need not be wasted but they do need to adapt to a rapidly changing world.
One thing we must do is resist the temptation to take AI engines on trust. Be picky; make them work hard to please you, whether it's style factors like your preference for open text with lots of whitespace, or choice of variable names, or replacing deep indenting with functions... make them do it. Keep nagging them till it's just right for you. That way at least you'll preserve your self-respect. For you are superior; you may not be able to churn out code at factory speed but you sure as hell can tell when it ain't right.
AI is here to stay. Don't be intimidated and don't pretend you can carry on without it. Embrace it and prove that things go better when you are at the helm. Accept the inevitable reprogramming of yourself and take control of it.
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