Post #348944

2026-02-21 05:42 UTC

Reposting a question for Ed Zitron, I'll forward responses. He asked on Bluesky and will get sub-Mastodon-tier answers: "This is a serious question and I would be delighted if I only hear great things but, software engineers: both before and after LLMs, how often in your professional lives have you run into software engineers that seem completely useless or lacking in basic knowledge? I hope the answer is rarely"

Replies (8)

@PingZing@pony.social 2026-02-21 12:13

@ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club I'd say "occasionally", and the rate at which it occurs is notably distinct between different kinds of workplaces. The more enterprisey, the more likely. Also, interview candidates seem disproportionately more likely to be terrible, but that at least makes sense--the less competent folks are more likely to be interviewing, right? I wouldn't say I've noticed much different pre- and post-LLMs, but I HAVE noticed that post-LLM, you've got a lot of people uncritically drinking the Kool-Aid.

Open ##350477
@drikanis@mstdn.ca 2026-02-21 06:07

@ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club For the record, I work at a software company that employs ~10k developers. Before LLMs, I'd encounter such engineers a couple of times a month, but I interact with a lot of engineers, specifically the ones that need help or are new at the company or industry at large, so it's a selected sample. Even the most inexperienced ones are willing and able to learn with some guidance. After LLMs, there's been a significant uptick, and these new ones are grossly incompetent, incurious, impatient, and behave like addicts if their supply of tokens is at all interrupted. If they run out of prompt credits, its an emergency because they claim they can't do any work at all. They can't even explain the architecture of what they are making anymore, and can't even file tickets or send emails without an LLM writing it for them, and they certainly lack in any kind of reading comprehension. It's bleak and depressing, and makes me want to quit the industry altogether.

Open ##361784
@scuttlebutt@farticle.cloud 2026-02-24 05:45

@ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club Not just software "engineers" but everyone, all walks of life ... it's probably a minimum 10-15% of everyone.

Open ##383271
@philip@mastodon.mallegolhansen.com 2026-02-21 05:44

@ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club Like… basically everyone I’ve interacted with in my career except a notable handful?

Open ##2466601
@jacques@mastodon.chester.id.au 2026-02-21 05:45

@ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club I founded an entire subreddit on this topic which still considers me to be an absent god. Truly. But its name cannot be spoken.

Open ##2466607
@arichtman@eigenmagic.net 2026-02-21 05:54

@ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club pretty regularly pre LLMs, the whole half-the-people-are-worse-than-median thing. Haven't been out and about enough to comment post LLMs really.

Open ##2466610
@UweHalfHand@norcal.social 2026-02-21 05:57

@ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club Sadly, the answer is not “rarely”. In the past few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work in a fairly stable group, so can’t really differentiate between before and after LLMs. But regardless, there is a reasonable fraction of NNPPs — net negative productivity programmers.

Open ##2466612
@phated@fosstodon.org 2026-02-21 05:58

@ludicity@mastodon.sprawl.club About 90% of the time, so goes Sturgeon's Law.

Open ##2466615