The Braindead Senior Dev Hypothesis

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the growing trend of "braindead programming takes" from alleged "senior developers" and their increasing reliance on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to write code. It explores the author's perspective on the pros and cons of using LLMs for programming tasks, and the potential impact on the software industry.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Death of the Junior Developer and The Resurgence of the Junior Developer

1. What are the author's views on the "The Death of the Junior Developer" and "The Resurgence of the Junior Developer" articles?

• The author did not like the "The Death of the Junior Developer" article and wrote a response titled "The Resurgence of the Junior Developer" to express their disagreement.

2. What is the author's opinion on using ChatGPT to write code?

• The author would not trust ChatGPT to write code for them, as it frequently makes mistakes. The author believes writing the code from scratch would be faster and more reliable.
• However, the author finds ChatGPT to be very helpful in providing information and explanations on technical topics, such as relative URLs, database backups, Tor, and TLS handshakes.

[02] Using LLMs to Write Code

1. What is the author's view on senior developers using LLMs to write the majority of their code?

• The author believes that if a senior developer is using LLMs to write the majority of their code, they are not really a senior developer.
• The author argues that the time and mental effort required to prompt LLMs to write code can be more time-consuming than just writing the code themselves, especially for common, boilerplate-style code.

2. What does the author think about the StackOverflow survey findings on developers' trust and use of LLMs?

• The author finds it surprising that 43% of programmers either highly trust or somewhat trust LLM output, and that 82% of developers ask AI to write code for them.
• The author is concerned that this level of reliance on LLMs to write code could lead to developers being replaced by AI.

3. How does the author's view on junior and senior developers differ regarding the threat of LLMs?

• The author hypothesizes that senior developers are lazier and more complacent than junior developers, which is why senior developers are less worried about LLMs replacing them (69.6% of senior devs vs. 57.9% of junior devs).
• The author believes that LLMs could actually benefit junior developers more by providing them with the experience and guidance that would typically take years to acquire.

4. What is the author's overall perspective on the impact of LLMs on the software industry?

• The author believes that LLMs will have a transformative impact on the software industry, but the solution is not to become complacent and rely on LLMs to write code.
• Instead, the author suggests that developers should focus on gaining more skills and actively building things, rather than becoming "juvenile sea squirts" who become complacent after finding a comfortable position.