Comment by HarHarVeryFunny

LLMs are the new compilers.

I don't think you can really call yourself a developer unless you at least have an idea how to build a more complex software project like a compiler, and maybe have built a toy one either at uni or for fun.

It's not clear how long this LLM age of AI will last (to be replaced by something better), but nowadays any developer should at least understand the basics of ANNs, and more than just the "hello world" of a cat vs dog CNN. An LLM/Transformer is maybe the equivalent of a compiler in that regard - something that we all use and is complex enough to present a bit of a challenge. You should at least understand the basics of how an LLM is built, and maybe building a toy LLM will/should become the new Comp. Sci. degree toy compiler replacement.