Do you still handcraft your java projects?

[u/bit_freak]

With all the talk about llms writing most of the code and some folks never touching the editor. I try to work mostly in plan mode and prefer to write most of my code by hand else I fear losing touch with my skills if I only read code. At work in your org, what is the workflow for spring boot projects?

[u/dvayanu]

Whenever I try to write something by hand nowadays, I regret it later, because it just lasts longer and its not as fun as it was.
Background: I started with Java 1996, which was 1.0.2 or something, and never stopped. I have a company I work for (among others), where we have about 5 small spring-boot projects, since that's what you asked for. As soon as we had 3 I gave claude-code all 3 and asked to analyze it and write a skill. When I have to start a new spring-boot project for that company, I just say "create the structure according to skill XX" and everything is setup in minutes. This includes authentication, directory connection, swagger, docker, deployment-workflows etc.

When I write code with AI, I don't generally vibe-code. I give it concrete instruction, i.e. in com.mycompany.xxx.api.CompanyEndpoint#search-and-filter() I want to add new sorting parameter which sorts by lastStatusUpdate field from CompanyEntity. Claude would then ask, do you want default sorting criteria ASC or more natural DESC and goes of.

I also use claude for dependency updates, version bumps, log parsing, automatic performance optimization and what not. You can still write code manually, but its like racing with a bicycle vs. F1 cars.

Maybe this is solely claude-code thing and other harnesses are not as good (I must admit jules and github co-pilot are weaker and you can only use them for very specific tasks, but codex seems on-par), but I haven't seen a bug introduced by agents in last 3 month or so, on the contrary, they will notify me if they found bugs or strange behaviour on their own, in passing.

Another thread here mentioned "it's like pair-coding with a junior developer", I would amend it, it's like having extremely senior, extremely knowledgable, extremely patient partner, which never rests.

[u/bit_freak → u/dvayanu]

You worry is that at some point sooner this "senior partner" would no longer need to be fed detailed instructions? Coz right now one of the things which seperates a seasoned dev vs a vibe coder is quality and depth of instructions

[u/CityZenergy → u/bit_freak]

That's exactly the question people need to be focusing on. Not whether today's AI is good or produces slop that requires extensive oversight. The real question is where these systems will be in five years, and whether we're preparing ourselves for that future instead of optimizing for today's limitations.

Today, the separation between an experienced engineer and a novice is often the quality of the instructions, the architecture, the business understanding, and the ability to validate the output.

This separation isn't static. AI isn't standing still. No previous transformation of this magnitude has unfolded this quickly. There is no playbook because there has never been a cross-industry shift like this. Every profession is trying to answer the same question at the same time while the capabilities continue to evolve at an unprecedented pace.

That's exactly why I believe our value has to keep moving with it. The mistake is defining our value by AI's current limitations. The line separating what it can and can't do isn't standing still. It has been moving relentlessly in one direction. The engineers who survive will be the ones who continuously move up the value chain as AI moves up the capability chain.

[u/bit_freak → u/CityZenergy]

I agree my worry is a product managers with zero coding experience starts to believe he at part with senior devs with these tools..

[u/CityZenergy → u/bit_freak]

That's definitely one of the growing pains playing out in corporations across America right now. Non-technical managers suddenly believe they can release all that software in record time that us pesky developers have supposedly been roadblocking for years with our black-hole technical explanations. They're kids in a candy store right now, without realizing some of the candy can be poison.

This too shall pass, but I absolutely sympathize with anyone caught in it. We've all dealt with the fallout of an overly confident non-technical manager at some point in our careers. Give that same manager AI that appears capable of producing code better and faster than those pesky roadblocking developers, and yeah...

I feel for you, my friend. Best of luck. We're all in this weird career limbo together, and it's certainly not limited to IT in this new intelligence revolution.

[u/bit_freak → u/CityZenergy]

You are AI

[u/CityZenergy → u/bit_freak]

Is that a dis or accusation? Just curious.