These next-token prediction machines have made many of us realize that producing somewhat working code is not enough to be a programmer. It is (loosely speaking) the easiest part, in fact.

When there's a machine that can produce tons of low-quality code much quicker than us, we have to become machines that prioritize the quality of our code and our own understanding.

It was never about writing code in the first place. Instead, it is about thinking and solving problems, translating your understanding into code. This is the hardest, most time-consuming, and most important part. LLMs can't do that for us.

Just like in math, you can use machines to calculate an equation for you. But the machine doesn't actually understand math. It only does computation. It's you who does the math by deciding what to solve and how.

2026-04-14