LeahI work with IT and the AI stuff is...
motivating me to do my work!
demotivating me to do my work!
not affecting my motivation!
Poll ended at .
Enola Knezevic@leah Motivating me to learn a trade and GTFO of the IT! They deserve to run slopshops with no humans besides the chief sloperator.
Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE@leah It's pissing off a number of my colleagues. I've decided to retire - twelve days to go!
Sigma@leah Demotivating. It's not that I think AI will replace me anytime soon. (In fact it won't. I've played with it enough to know that current-gen AI is at best Legacy-Code-as-a-Service. It's not usable for anything productive. At least not in the long term.)
But the issue is that a lot of people - even within the software industry - think it will be able to replace us. It's demotivating to realize that a lot of people don't understand the worth of an experienced software engineer...
But the issue is that a lot of people - even within the software industry - think it will be able to replace us. It's demotivating to realize that a lot of people don't understand the worth of an experienced software engineer...
Carsten Hoffmann@sigmasternchen @leah I feel different. For me it is a tool to craft software. Being experienced helps me to shape the output. As every tool, it has a learning curve. But in many cases, it helps rather than it hinders. I would compare it to the usage of an IDE (as opposed to a text editor).
@morl99 @leah I used to think that too.
But the output quality even of something like Claude 4.5 Opus is so incredibly bad that I spent more time explaining to the AI that no, "assert status_code in [200, 500]" is, in fact, not a sensible test. That comments that parrot the code do more harm than good. Or that changing the scope of the feature midway through implementing it might be bad. I'm sure some of this can be fixed with precise prompting, but at some point it's just faster to write it by hand - that's what programming languages are for after all: They are languages that are way more precise than natural language to tell the computer what to do.
And granted, maybe that's just my experience because I tend to work on problems with non-trivial solutions, where there is just not as much related training data for the AI. But it still makes them unusable for me and for the work I do. And it feels validating to me that other programmers that I respect also warn about the consequences for code quality - and by extension maintainability - and security.
And this is just regarding the output, right. There's loads of other problems, like deskilling, the unrealistic pricing model, dependency on US companies, the ecological problems, and of course also the moral issues.
Bottom line (for me): Current-gen AIs can not do my job as well as me. They slow me down and frustrate me, when they are "trying to help me". And I think (for various reasons) that we should probably not get dependent on them.
But the output quality even of something like Claude 4.5 Opus is so incredibly bad that I spent more time explaining to the AI that no, "assert status_code in [200, 500]" is, in fact, not a sensible test. That comments that parrot the code do more harm than good. Or that changing the scope of the feature midway through implementing it might be bad. I'm sure some of this can be fixed with precise prompting, but at some point it's just faster to write it by hand - that's what programming languages are for after all: They are languages that are way more precise than natural language to tell the computer what to do.
And granted, maybe that's just my experience because I tend to work on problems with non-trivial solutions, where there is just not as much related training data for the AI. But it still makes them unusable for me and for the work I do. And it feels validating to me that other programmers that I respect also warn about the consequences for code quality - and by extension maintainability - and security.
And this is just regarding the output, right. There's loads of other problems, like deskilling, the unrealistic pricing model, dependency on US companies, the ecological problems, and of course also the moral issues.
Bottom line (for me): Current-gen AIs can not do my job as well as me. They slow me down and frustrate me, when they are "trying to help me". And I think (for various reasons) that we should probably not get dependent on them.
@sigmasternchen @leah I have had problems, where the AI was of no (substantial) help to me. I cannot say if this was due to my lack of context engineering skill at that time. But I really like the AI as a sparrings partner, given a predefined workflow and some "fixed" requirements.
But in no way do I see this as a replacement for my job, the AI is nothing with me doing the context engineering. As for the other problems, they sure await new solution strategies.
@morl99 @leah I'm sorry, I might have misunderstood you earlier.
I'm not saying it can't be helpful. For example: I've used it to analyse an existing (not-well-structured) code base and search for locations that touch certain topics - that's definitely useful. Even vibe-coding (in the sense that the code is not looked at by a human) can have applications for protoyping or requirements engineering.
Just for implementing features or fixing bugs in production code, I personally think it slows me down. And I feel like focusing extensively on AI could potentially prove a bad move for companies. And I'm saying this working for a client that focuses extensively on AI. 😅
I'm not saying it can't be helpful. For example: I've used it to analyse an existing (not-well-structured) code base and search for locations that touch certain topics - that's definitely useful. Even vibe-coding (in the sense that the code is not looked at by a human) can have applications for protoyping or requirements engineering.
Just for implementing features or fixing bugs in production code, I personally think it slows me down. And I feel like focusing extensively on AI could potentially prove a bad move for companies. And I'm saying this working for a client that focuses extensively on AI. 😅
@sigmasternchen @leah I feel we are pretty on the same page then and I have misunderstood your initial post as well.
And yeah, vibe coding a small CLI for example as a useful tool to handle a certain kind of operational problem is really nice. I have a CLI where I do not care for the code at all, just the tests.
Jonathan Hartley@morl99 @sigmasternchen @leah An interesting comparison. I have an anecdote from my time in a place that did 100% pairing on all code. We all learned a *lot* from each other, including about each other's IDE. After a few months, one by one, twelve out of fourteen of us chose to switch from an IDE to either Vim or Emacs, after we had been sufficiently educated in why you would do that. An example of pairing spreading not just knowledge, but enlightenment.
@morl99 @sigmasternchen @leah So yes, LLM use does seen like using an IDE, in that it's an attractive tool that is eschewed by people who understand more deeply.
Gina Häußge@leah @sigmasternchen I'm on the exact same page
Stefan
🏳️⚧️PepperTheVixen🦯@leah motivating me to learn and do my work out of pure rage so that I can tell AI bros where they can shove it
Damian Fajfer@leah AI is actually amazing for single project maintainers and really helps a lot with offloading things you have to do
Forbearance@leah I might be the only one down as "motivating" here.
I do sadly catch "I don't wanna write this code when the bot can maybe do it" energy (even when the bot manifestly cannot and it proves to be waste of time to ask it to try and a cogitohazard to wade through what it spits out).
But "The bot is more diligent about writing and running the tests than I am" (and "The bot will lie and submit code-shaped nonsense instead of code") is definitely "motivating" me to actually be test-driven.
@leah And it turns out writing out a couple paragraphs of science fiction about how something ought to work before setting out to make it is a good idea for humans too.
@leah In general, figuring out that mechanical processes find your codebase confusing (where are the tests? How does someone even begin to build this? What are the essential pieces of domain knowledge that it is impossible to write useful code without accounting for?) will also reveal problems that make it inaccessible to new humans.
The less clever the automated system, the better it is at tripping over problems that shouldn't be there anyway and inspiring you to have better/any docs.
@leah But I luckily don't have a bunch of coworkers slinging reams of slop at me that they decline to be accountable for. If that happened I would probably die immediately of rage.
Aleksandr Yakunichev@leah AI excitement among my colleagues demotivates me to review their code and collaborate but on the other side it motivates me to volunteer and contribute to free software more (to projects which do not use AI to produce the code).
Marcus Schwarz@leah It's not really AI that demotivates me. I see AI as a tool that can help you if you use it correctly. Just like a craftsman uses a hammer. If you use it correctly, it makes it easier to hammer a nail into a piece of wood. What demotivates me is the constant influx of people saying, “AI will replace you all,” especially those in the company whose job it is to motivate people. When even your CTO has been telling you for two years that “AI will replace you,” you lose all joy in your work.
codeDude 
@leah I hate the tons of bad practices, tech dept in the PRs and it seems nobody cares.
I can not review all the PRs and tons of this bad practices are merged.
Companies started to hire people without experience to lead or as Sr and they bring them AI shit to work.
I feel that something that I love so much that is the #SoftwareEngineering is no respected just because AI is the new god and companies wants to save money at the expense of the quality of software.
@leah I hate when the justification for a code be
"...because chatgpt told me"
or several time people can not response a simple question about their own fucking code.
@leah Something that keep my mind calm is the #openSource #freeSoftware or my personal projects
a little space where the good code still matter.
Tiss'hivert @leah motivating me to invent something much better.
DoomsdaysCW@leah I'd like a 4th option -- spends time finding and pointing out flaws in AI in the workplace
Jana
JayArgh
moanos@leah It definitely demotivates me. It just feels dishonest when someone in a junior position sends me stuff to review that is genAI. It has so many errors and especially the subtle ones are annoying to catch. And when I try to talk to the junior about it, it becomes clear that they didn't understand key issue at all.
So what I did: I went to the kitchen, made a tea, and only then went back to my PC and gave them a call to help them rewrite the thing.
It'd have been far easier if they directly asked me "Hey I don't know what I should write, can you help me" instead of sending me confident-sounding word vomit.
And this is where I can control it. My bosses use genAI to "get inspiration and feedback" and honestly that sounds like a nightmare.
Travis F W
Nusquam tuta fides@leah My motivation is long gone already, just waiting for everything to collapse, then I can be a demigod again, reviving these old machines that survived :D
ghosttie
Daniel Opitz@leah It motivates me to do my job, because AI is so bad on so many levels, that I'm doubling down on not using it and writing everything myself. Why should I stop doing something I really enjoy? :)
Kiki@leah
not sure what to choose here... I'm glad that I don't have to work with anything "AI"-related. But whenever someone else does, I feel annoyed and a little bit afraid that it might get forced on me at some point. I don't want to contribute to a gigantic energy-wasting machine hyped up by billionaires who want to hoard even more money with this shitshow...
not sure what to choose here... I'm glad that I don't have to work with anything "AI"-related. But whenever someone else does, I feel annoyed and a little bit afraid that it might get forced on me at some point. I don't want to contribute to a gigantic energy-wasting machine hyped up by billionaires who want to hoard even more money with this shitshow...
@flauschzelle I think this would qualify for demotivating. I don't have to work with it either but I have to work against it and its everywhere so I can't truly avoid to an extend I would wish.
katalyst
rappet@leah me and a colleague are currently trailing it as a college recommended we should.
Overall, does make fun at first. We are currently with the fourth iteration on a problem (that would have taken multiple iterations anyways). I feel half of the iterations failed in my opinion because the solution was to complex as AI somewhat steers you in just implementing stuff that should be simplified first.
I would probably not use it for code generation for not PoC stuff anymore.
Tanquist@leah
AI at work motivates me to find ways to fuck with it. The quickest task I do every week: Uninstall Copilot every time the assholes reinstall it on my computer.
AI at work motivates me to find ways to fuck with it. The quickest task I do every week: Uninstall Copilot every time the assholes reinstall it on my computer.
truh
nicole4fox -> GPN@leah it makes a lot of stuff easier tbh
Kai Pelzel@leah AI won‘t replace my work anytime soon or later. But it motivates me to keep away from it and do my work.
@kaipelzel that's not what I meant. 😂
@leah whoopsie…
Abu Hodja@leah I can see some benefits to AI tools and I run Ollama on my laptop for work. I realize that the commercial offerings are even better and it depresses me a lot that my doing my job might involve even more subscriptions to services run by people I, to put it mildly, do not hold in high regard.
Eric Goodwin@leah @mayintoronto maybe not directly affecting my motivation but it risks crushing my soul
Nate Allen@leah as my role is now supporting Microsoft devices I have to say that the most demotivating part of my job is that Microsoft has given up on things like "documentation" because their UIs change on a daily basis, and the only real way to figure out what you need to do now is ask CoPilot where to do the thing you already know you need to do. And if you need help from Microsoft support, well, you're really just talking to CoPilot again, which you could just do yourself.
Richard Crawshaw@leah technically the AI bullshit is pissing me off, and lowering my opinion of those who do use it. But demotivating will do!