Exactly, ultimately we are craftsmen, not artisans. They are two very distinct things. The difference being that the value of our output is directly tied to its' functional utility, not any sense of aesthetic or artistic expression. You can take pride in the means used to achieve an end, but they ultimately must be superseded by more efficient techniques or you just become an artisan using traditional tools, and not a craftsman who uses the industry standard.
Craftsmen are individual contributors. When you coordinate others, you're no longer an IC, you're a foreman, a boss. Coding with LLMs is about managing the contributions of other ICs. It's no different from coordinating low-level human coders who simply implement the design that was given them.
If that's the kind of 'craftsmanship' you enjoy, great. To me, this new model of 'bionic coding' feels a lot like factory work, where my job is to keep my team from falling behind the assembly line.
BTW, I've worked factory lines as both IC and foreman. In either role, that life sucks.
> Exactly, ultimately we are craftsmen, not artisans. They are two very distinct things. The difference being that the value of our output is directly tied to its' functional utility, not any sense of aesthetic or artistic expression.
That's the usual definition of an artisan as opposed to an artist. (Artisan vs. craftsman is a fuzzier distinction.)
An artisan uses artistic techniques and their own intuitive judgement to produce a practical good. Think bakers. No one would be upset that their local bakery was using tools and techniques from a thousand years ago to make their bread. But a carpenter, for example, is a craftsman. He may take an aesthetic pride in the finished result of his work, but it must match all technical specifications and building codes. And the customer would be pretty upset to see them using wood planes and hand saws to frame their house.
Exactly, ultimately we are craftsmen, not artisans. They are two very distinct things. The difference being that the value of our output is directly tied to its' functional utility, not any sense of aesthetic or artistic expression. You can take pride in the means used to achieve an end, but they ultimately must be superseded by more efficient techniques or you just become an artisan using traditional tools, and not a craftsman who uses the industry standard.