Programming

I'd rather hone my skills at writing better, more intelligible code than spend that same time learning how to make LLMs output slightly less shit code.

Whenever we don't actively use and train our skills, they will inevitably atrophy. Something I think about quite often on this topic is Plato's argument against writing. His view is that writing things down is "a recipe not for memory, but for reminder", leading to a reduction in one's capacity for recall and thinking. I don't disagree with this, but where I differ is that I find it a worthwhile tradeoff when accounting for all the ways that writing increases my mental capacities.

For me, weighing the tradeoff is the most important gauge of whether a given tool is worthwhile or not. And personally, using an LLM for coding is not worth it when considering what I gain Vs lose from prioritising that over growing my existing skills and knowledge

But at a certain point, it seems like you spend more time babysitting and spoon-feeding the LLM than you do writing productive code.

There's a lot of busywork that I could see it being good for, like if you're asked to generate 100 test cases for an API with a bunch of tiny variations, but that kind of work is inherently low value. And in most cases you're probably better off using a tool designed for the job, like a fuzzer.