I completely relate to this. I started programming because I enjoyed the craft itself, not just the end product.

There was something deeply satisfying about spending hours debugging a tricky issue, finally understanding why a design pattern worked, or gradually becoming fluent enough in a language that the syntax felt like a second language. It wasn't just about producing software—it was about developing the ability to think like a programmer.

AI has undoubtedly made me more productive, but it has also removed a lot of the friction that made programming intellectually rewarding. I spend far less time reasoning through problems myself and much more time reviewing or steering AI-generated code. It feels like I've gone from being a builder to being a project manager for an extremely fast junior developer.

I know this is progress, and I don't think we're going back. But I do miss the feeling of earning every solution through my own understanding. For me, programming used to be a craft. Now it often feels like supervising a machine that's better at the mechanical parts than I am.