The list of PRs to be reviewed, getting long and long each day in numbers.
The dashboard, looking at me with that weird devil laugh every time I open the Github.
It's not me, being lazy and stubborn to keep reviewing everything consistently (maybe).
It's some dry dreaded lines of waste, of code changes being written in those files that make the stubborn I am.
The AI slop, waiting on those changes to get refuge in our codebases are becoming a nightmare day by day.
The Cause
- Developers being lazy to write code. They're not here for passion (or they lost it), just for money.
- They don't care about what they (or the agent) write, they're just focused on completing the task due to work pressure.
- They're not good at this, maybe they're some product managers who focus on the app but not technology under the hood.
- The FOMO of using AI to get tasks move quickly and wasting time (most of the medias are responsible for this, the me before a few months would assure this).
- People being developers instead of poets (The art of beautiful code is long gone).
The Solution
- Review PRs effectively (I used to rewrite some my own, instead of educating the PR author)
- Talk to your teammates and motivate them (there had been one of my friends who quoted about a fellow's code: I got goosebumps reading it)
- As a developer, think about a problem before asking it to the agent. Share your thoughts and get feedback.
- Try to use AI for automation, not to be dumb day by day (The ability to think will fade away, aware of that).
- Proofread the code written by the agent, and instruct how to make it well written.
- Sometimes writing with your own hands feels like greatness being achieved (don't listen to the FOMO creators).
- Learn to code or learn to prompt (be good at it, sometimes it is easier to express in code than in natural language).
I could have become a project manager 20 years ago if I didn’t care to write code myself and I just wanted outcomes.
-- DHH
Top comments (4)
I can totally relate to the "used to rewrite some my own" bit. I hate nitpicking on the smallest details and derailing the PR author from their current task. But lately I've been trying to leave comments for the tiniest stuffs so I'll get to see more of those goosebump PRs down the line
I thought you noticed the 'one of my friends who quoted' part. That was you!
Bro i been following you
This hits hard, Akbar. As a 12-year-old who's literally building his first SaaS with an AI mentor right now, this post made me stop and think.
I use AI as a teacher, not a replacement for my brain. When I hit the
100vhmobile viewport bug, the AI explained WHY it broke — but I had to apply the fix myself on my 6.7" screen. When Supabase RLS silently blocked my inserts, I had to actually understand the permission model to write the GRANT statement.The difference I've felt: AI as a mentor makes you stronger. AI as a crutch makes you weaker. You said it perfectly — "Try to use AI for automation, not to be dumb day by day."
I think the real problem isn't AI. It's using AI to skip the understanding. The "goosebumps" code you mentioned comes from someone who cared. I want my code to give people goosebumps someday, even if I'm writing it on a POCO C55.
Thanks for this. It's a reminder to keep writing with my own hands. 🙏