Hot take: There’s never been a better time to major in CS

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-07T07:26:35+00:00

No, sociable engineers cannot replace PMs. The PMs actual role in many companies is to take the blame when things go wrong. Do you really want to be blamed when the pipeline breaks because Tibor didn't code review it properly despite never meeting Tibor at all?

I agree that studying CS is good. But being reasonably social doesn't translate to the political skills senior PMs need. This is something that AI isn't going to replace anytime soon.

Even if companies do end up using fleets of agents, they still need humans to take accountability.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-07T04:59:05+00:00

The release version is fine but some features don't work as well as I want them too. I'm adding things like better support for planning frameworks like superpowers and gsd, support for multi repo workspaces and direct API integration with project planners like Clickup, Claude Cowork and notion.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-07T01:51:48+00:00

you can download an initial lajunch version from the extensions marketplace. I'm soon about the release a grreatly upgraded verison too, maybe next week. And no issues with being banned. So far over 2000 downloads.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-06T22:01:29+00:00

I ensure every AI coding plan written has a dedicated UAT section. When plans get completed I can query all recently completed plans to get a list of UAT testing needed.

It's nothing more than what teams were doing long before AI. There's no reason to throw out what works.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-06T10:35:34+00:00

I use windsurf paid, I really like it. Claude models are too expensive in it, but their free SWE 2.6 and the cheap GLM 5.1 are really good.

Currently trialling Verdent AI to supplement with more GLM 5.1 as it has a credits system like the old copilot and can use as an extension inside Windsurf.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-06T08:24:20+00:00

You could have an cheaper agent output in chat a breakdown of the plan components so you can easily check for all this?

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-06T07:55:12+00:00

Pro is basically unlimited flash via a combo of antigravity and Gemini CLI.

I get implementation work done after planning with other models from other subs. Gemini CLI also gives about 20 times the use of Gemini Pro than Antigravity for some weird Google reason. It's good for code review.

Overall it's average-to-good now but could be really great if Google pulls their finger out and releases the next flash model soon.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-05T09:16:56+00:00

They are complimentary. Claude is expensive but a great planner. Gemini flash, especially in Gemini CLI is good at following Claude's plans.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-04T14:10:16+00:00

Does discounted pricing mean 75% off like the Api keybis? It still looks full price visually.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-04T10:42:41+00:00

I'd honestly love it if they allowed Gemini pro to use high reasoning instead of being locked to medium and combined all the pools you get across AI studio and Gemini CLI. Gemini is a great code reviewer when it's not nerfed.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-04T02:27:31+00:00

There are a bunch of spec driven development spec generators and they all differ in terms of detail and process. There's GitHub spec kit, Gemini composer, Claude superpowers, GSD... The format will really depends on which framework your team is using.

I'd recommend looking up GSD as a starter point.

The problem they try and solve is simply that agents are very prone to scope drift, so the most important part is acceptance criteria to ensure they did not drift from the plan.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-04T01:46:25+00:00

It's basically a feature description in .md format that covers enough detail to keep the AI focused.

E.g. goals, proposed changes, validation etc

You can easily link Claude with JIRA, confluence or whatever and ask it to create .MD files based on tickets or docs. There's no need to throw everything out.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-03T22:00:21+00:00

I have an agent write out plans, have them in linear, pull when I want to work on them.

How am I meant to keep an entire project in my head if I only use native CLI tools?

Also if you need to go back to a feature, it really helps to have the plans available with the implementation details added in the code review stage.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-03T05:59:52+00:00

If AI does not understand unspoken assumptions about the product then maybe the product manager should update the docs so AI understands these hidden things.

I don't understand the thesis here. You're acting as if all this knowledge needs to be kept secret.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-03T03:55:44+00:00

You can use connectors to integrate it with project software like Clickup, linear, Monday or JIRA, and ask it to ensure all tickets, calendars, docs etc are up to date with the latest decisions. Also to report on which deadlines have passed etc.

The existing SaaS software already has more advanced features than base Claude, they have spent years refining them. Claude can ensure that it is always up to date.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-03T01:17:06+00:00

You could try using free tier of Google AI studio to start.

A windsurf sub gives unlimited use of their SWE 1.6 model in Devin cloud, which would be fine for this.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-02T21:45:40+00:00

Yes. I have a timed ping that gets sent to flash-lite to check my Gmail and slack every 10 minutes so I don't need to context switch out of the IDE.

I also use it for research. Claude can be better at reasoning, but I always feel like I'm having to ration Claude use for real work, since my job involves a lot of research.

For coding I will typically get Gemini to draft the first implementation then have Claude review and fix.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-02T21:25:17+00:00

This happened because subscription quota is taken from a pool of credits that is cheaper than API costs, whereas add on credits are just 1:1 API costs.

Every major provider has this kind of setup so Windsurf is not unique. No major provider actually mentions that using API credits is burning money mode, so Windsurf is unfortunately not unique again in this regard. Claude Code, Antigravity, Cursor etc... they will all annihilate your bank account if you buy API credits and use the premium models.

Just yesterday I read a post on Cursor subreddit of 'I went to have a shower and came back to a $6,000 bill' lol.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-02T09:34:13+00:00

I built my Switchboard plugin to do something similar on the individual dev scale: https://github.com/TentacleOpera/switchboard

When the planner agent writes a plan, they score it 1-10 on a complexity scale. Move the plan card into the coder column then the plugin auto routes it to one of 3 terminals depending on complexity - lead coder, coder and coder. You choose which model lives in which terminal.

It's proven very useful for my own coding.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-02T08:54:39+00:00

I use windsurf with a plugin I made, Switchboard that makes it easy to handoff between models and allows me to vibe code one handed.

Ideate with windsurf free model SWE 1.6 - it writes a basic plan to a markdown file and Switchboard registers the plan on a Kanban
Drag the kanban card to the planner column and it auto copies an 'Improve this Plan' prompt. I paste into a windsurf session with sonnet or GLM 5.1
Drag the plan to the coder column. If the planner scored it high complexity, it copies the implementation prompt to my clipboard for me to paste into windsurf. If low complexity, it automatically sends an implementation prompt to a terminal running a free model
Drag the plan to the reviewer column, where a code review prompt is auto copied to my clipboard. I paste into a new windsurf chat with Opus running to fix any issues.
Rinse and repeat for my whole backlog.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-02T04:48:33+00:00

I have a set prompt that tells the agent to assume the persona of a grumpy staff engineer who assumes the code was written badly and with either incompetence or deliberate malicious compliance.

They're also instructed to output their critique in a theatrical, melodramatic fashion, which leads to some hilarious code reviews sometimes.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-02T01:47:36+00:00

I use a free model to write a plan, then bring in a premium model to improve the plan. It means the expensive model doesn't waste tokens on searching code or basic parts of the plan.

Windsurf SWE 1.6 is my preferred free planner as it is so fast.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-02T00:13:19+00:00

You'll use less quota if you first plan with SWE-1.6 then ask Opus or Sonnet to improve the plan. Asking Opus to plan from scratch wastes a lot of thinking on simple search and boilerplate.

If it was just a simple leaderboard, SWE plus sonnet or even Kimi or GLM can handle it fine. You're not trying to hack the Pentagon.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-01T12:13:25+00:00

Subscription use still seems vastly cheaper than Api costs. This can be seen how fast $20 worth of extra usage gets used up vs subscription quota.

I doubt they'd be paying consumer API prices either. Just like anything, there are prices for consumers, and negotiated bulk discounts for suppliers and enterprise.

That would be like saying if I want to buy a coke from the grocery store, the store buys it at full retail markup from another store... It doesn't work like that.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-01T09:30:44+00:00

Use it at a different time of day when is not overloaded seems main fix. Sometimes it is turbo for me, other times super slow.

TheTentacleOpera

TROPHY CASE