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J Fowler
J Fowler

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On the 'throw it away' mentality in tech

William (Bill) Kennedy (@goinggodotnet) put up a real good post on X/Twitter addressing how AI can (or may) lead to a lack of engineering mindset in software development. Thought I would share my response here.

_I was being interviewed by a millennial, startup cto. Real company, has revenue, just needs someone to take on dev duties he has be doing. Very professional interview, standard questions. He asked me, 'Tell me the code you are most proud of'

I proceed to tell him about an embedded project I worked on in '97. It was some intelligent lighting controls that helped reduce energy waste in commercial buildings. Am named in several patents for the work.

Mentioned I have been in buildings recently where the devices are installed and still running. Said I was proud of it because it's still working 25+ yrs later.

I noticed he smirked. I could tell that for him the code, while valuable, was just a means to an end. Not much pride in workmanship.

The 'throw it away' mentality is very real.

Probably won't get that job._

What do you think? Will AI lead to reduced engineering skills and more 'throw it away' mentality? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks!

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