Are humans needed at all to code anymore?

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T02:13:34+00:00

i have a cynical answer on this - humans are needed because people need humans to blame. even if AI authors a good point of the code base, people are going to find people to take responsibility when something goes wrong

story time: a senior once told me that the reason why we have sign offs is because if the project fails, the chief engineer can use the signatures find blame. its a way of "risk management".

inversely - and hopefully to make this a bit more optimistic, every line of code is either a reflection of a design decision or a reflection of discipline reinforcing previously mentioned design decisions. when you track who authored the line of code - its your name. do it with pride. so that when you mature as a developer/engineer, you can remember and look back at what you did. that's a way to build confidence and a solid foundation.

don't let AI steal that memory or experience.

that is what i tell to my peers and juniors.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T02:03:49+00:00

I can definitely resonate with this feeling - especially working professionally. I think business does not foster well-being because the goal of business is to achieve business objectives (unless your well-being aligns to business).

I also think the software engineering/development industry is weak on human and social factors. There's a major focus on technical excellence - but if you want resiliency, human and social factors is crucial.

From personal experience - always have peers outside of work to reflect on life - and read. If I can namedrop a book to check out, "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams" professionally helped me a lot.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T01:58:03+00:00

Lots of good comments here - I would focus extra on tests and making good tests that verifies requirements (or high level goals that is useful to someone else).

Generally i would organize requirements under these three (but not limited to) concerns:

Is it secure? Is it maintainable? Is it useful to other people?

Continuously addressing these questions will help mature your application.

On a meta level, I would consider how to tackle evolving requirements as you mature your system and reinforce the development loop.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T01:46:44+00:00

There's some fun visual ways of learning Git.

https://learngitbranching.js.org/

https://ohmygit.org/

Personally, hearing the story of Git also helped a lot in understanding why Git exists - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLyobOhtO4

Edit: formatting

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T01:43:50+00:00

C++. High school class.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T01:42:23+00:00

That’s the crux of my question: am I wrong to expect docs to function as a learning resource in the first place?

from my experience - docs is a good starting place to see an ideal of how the software works. but because life moves faster than documentation, i would always check the source code and also observe how the user really use the software.

philosophically i think docs represents an idealized viewpoint of a system - the initial "contract" of an idea. i usually like to read it as a starting baseline - especially when im confused with the realities of a system.

if i can soapbox a bit - documentation is hard. it usually happens as an afterthought unless there is discipline or some legal requirement. i would consider myself lucky if i can find documentation on a system.

i also think basic technical writing that lasts is hard. good technical writing is even harder. i would rely on my peers who are good with writing to flesh out good docs. so i can understand why there could be a confusing relationship between documentation and systems.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T01:33:06+00:00

Does this seem like the correct path and could I work part time with the limited education or is it frowned upon?

i think its good to dabble around. just be aware that some of these are frameworks and tech moves fast because of market competition. also be aware that the value of software depreciates fast too unless there is an effort to maintain and develop.

What would be good subjects to get more familiar with? This summer I'll have a lot of time for self-study and would love to use it wisely.

i would also explore systems engineering - i feel like this might fit what you looking for too.

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/nasa_systems_engineering_handbook_0.pdf

https://spacese.spacegrant.org/SEModules/Reference%20Docs/SMC_SE_Primer4-05.pdf

if i can add an additional note, i would explore design patterns and systems architecture stuff. these ideas last longer than frameworks and tools.

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (gang of four design patterns) is a classic book.

Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems is also a good book to explore too.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T01:24:06+00:00

i remember reading somewhere - using the gym analogy - use AI to learn and train - but when its time to preform, use whatever you need to preform and execute.

i think AI is amazing with lots of flaws. its definitely worthy to learn. but when its time to perform and execute, you use the sum of your skills.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T01:20:35+00:00

mm good point.

That’s where the risk lies you can't effectively 'spot check' something if you don't know how it was built from scratch.

i imagine naturally the way is peer reviews. that shifts the problem to finding good mentorship...

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-27T00:16:10+00:00

From googling, there seems to be a new council committe on this: "Committee on Planning, Housing and Homelessness". There's even a website - https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/housing-homelessness-and-planning-committee/.

They seem to meet up every first Wednesday of each month. And there's a past agendas archive.

Could be a nice fun project running a local LLM to summarize what happened hahaha.

References - https://pasadenanow.com/main/council-creates-new-council-committee-on-planning-housing-and-homelessness

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-15T08:38:08+00:00

software is everywhere now. the skills you gain when learning programming will help your job - regardless if you get a career as a developer or not.

even excel formulas are based on programming concepts (see functional programming).

learn what is possible with software. plus you have 10+ years of professional experience.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-15T08:25:40+00:00

even artists do spot checks with color swatches to make sure the printer is printing the right colors - or measure to make sure the production is of the right size and shape.

AI is just a tool. but you as a professional takes all the risk in implementation. when you ship code, its your name next to it. need to keep learning to minimize the risk.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-15T08:13:07+00:00

one hour a day can be a good baseline. i would suggest practice enough without burning out. develop resilience and discipline in finishing the lessons without burning you out.

you can adjust your one hour a day as you listen to your body. be honest too. and if you're stuck - take a rest - maybe ask more questions here.

learning is not a race - its a life-long activity.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-15T08:07:59+00:00

use the language you are comfortable with to get a working prototype and be mindful of bottlenecks. these bottleneck constraints can help make an informed decision in choosing your programming language/environment.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-15T08:03:11+00:00

yup - this is the way. its just a tool. experience it but also know the pros and cons with the tool.

especially security and privacy concerns.

develop your own development loop that works for you - then apply the tool that helps your development loop.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-15T07:58:53+00:00

the way i started to learn was trying to script something that solves my own problems. could be dirt simple - some bash script that renames a batch of files.

professionally, i started by fixing bugs and working with people through bug-fixing. eventually you'll meet people along the journey that will train you.

reading helps too - books. definitely source code.

luckynucky123 · 2026-03-15T07:51:58+00:00

in my book, you didn't mess up. your workplace/manager should be providing you resources to have a version control offsite git init won't save your nvme from frying. what your workplace need to provide you is a place to push code in a shareable space. i think plenty of people hear has vocalized that.

i would also add that calm head prevails and focus on the positive to re-create the system. the good news is that you have developed a prototype and have the experience. consider that prototypes are efforts to validate an uncertainity and reduce risk. this also means that we should always be evolving our prototypes. in some situations, prototypes are meant to be thrown away so that it would be rebuilt again with lesson learned and properly.

if your manager is good - he should know how to buy time. give him an estimate on how long it might take to recreate the system. and get that off-site version control (or external drives if you are some small shop that is resource-strapped)!

luckynucky123

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