Comment by oofbey
2 months ago
Here’s some practical tips:
Start small. Figure out what it (whatever tool you’re using) can do reliably at a quality level you’re comfortable with. Try other tools. There are tons. If it doesn’t get it right with the first prompt, iterate. Refine. Keep at it until you get there.
When you have seen some pattern work, do that a bunch. It won’t always work. Write rules / prompts / skills to try to get it to avoid making the mistakes you see. Keep doing this for a while and you’ll get into a groove.
Then try taking on bigger chunks of work at a time. Break apart a problem the same way you’d do it yourself first. Write a framework first. Build hello world. Write tests. Build the happy path. Add features. Don’t forget to make it write lots of tests. And run them. It’ll be lazy if you let it, so don’t let it. Each architectural step is not just a single prompt but a conversation with the output being a commit or a PR.
Also, use specs or plans heavily. Have a conversation with it about what you’re trying to do and different ways to do it. Their bias is to just code first and ask questions later. Fight that. Make it write a spec doc first and read it carefully. Tell it “don’t code anything but first ask me clarifying questions about the problem.” Works wonders.
As for convincing the AI haters they’re wrong? I seriously do. Not. Care. They’ll catch up. Or be out of a job. Not my problem.
I’m not a SWE by trade so I could care less about your last comment.
But again this is all… vague. I’m personally not convinced at all.
I’ll be hiring for a large project soon, so I’ll see for myself what benefits (well I care about net benefits) these tools are providing in the workplace.
If it wasn’t clear, I don’t have any desire to convince anybody of anything. You don’t believe the future is here yet? Good luck holding on to that position. Not my problem. I was taking time to try to help somebody who sounded genuinely curious and seeking help. That I’m happy to do.
You’re writing novels when if you had something compelling to show it’d be simple and easy.
If you can’t make it simple and easy… then you haven’t understood it at all. All geniuses refer to this as the standard by which one understands something. Whether it’s Steve Jobs or Einstein. So don’t get mad. Show us all how simple and easy it is. If you can’t.. then accept you’re full of it and don’t quite get it as well as you claim. Not rocket science is it?
But here we are. And actually my project is going to create the future. You’re a bozo programmer who creates the future that others already see. Know your role and don’t speak for others like me who are in the position of choosing who gets hired.
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