alt Hacker NewsLook, there are at least dozens of us who like and enjoy programming for programming's sake and got into this crazy industry because of that.
Many of these people made many of the countless things we take for granted every day (networking, operating systems, web search; hell, even the transformer architecture before they got productized!).
Seeing software development --- and software engineering by proxy --- get reduced to a jello that will be stepped on by "builders" in real-time is depressing as shit.
It's even more depressing to see folks on HACKER news boost the "programming never mattered" mentality that's taken hold these last few years.
Last comment I'll make before I step off my soapbox: the "codez real gud" folks that makes the big bucks bring way more to the table than their ability to code...but their ability to code is a big contributor to why they bring more to the table!
Well as depressing as it is, check out the 2024 and 2025 YC batches. Guess how many of them are “ai” something or other? It’s never been about “hackers”. Not a single founder who takes VC funding is thinking about a sustainable business - at least their investors aren’t - they are hoping for the “exit”.
It’s always been jello. I at 51 can wax poetically about the good old days or I can keep doing what I need to do to keep money appearing in my account.