Hey HN,
It feels like so much has changed in the last 18 months and I feel like I'm behind the curve.
I love software engineering and have been somewhat hesitant to use these new tools. But I am now committed to becoming an expert on using AI in my development workflow.
What are the tips you would give to somebody who is trying to figure this stuff out for the first time?
I have Copilot installed. Are there other tools that are making a big difference? Any particular workflows that make these tools most effective? Etc. I'm open to hearing everything!
Thank you all!
EDIT: So many amazing answers. One thing I'm curious about... if you can, I would love to see example transcripts from ChatGPT. Obviously many won't be able to be shared, but hopefully somebody has something that can!
I also feel like this generation of senior/staff SWEs (the senior pre-AI engineer) is in a very unique position for the following reason: we know what the correct code should look like, because we've written it ourselves many times, and we know how to review and modify it quickly. I don't think new SWEs will have that same ability. At the same time, that ability may not be required in the future as AI gets better and better at following instructions correctly.
AI's future in coding is uncertain. I think there is a new unrealized engineering platform on the horizon that can only be realized through a very small and focused group of architects using AI (maybe even 1 person), and that this new platform, which is focused on complexity management and system evolution, will change how we "code" completely, at the same time resetting AI's copilot utility in this new world.