Now that AI has increased production, Why has engineering become so much less interesting? I've been thinking about it a lot lately.
I am an engineering manager, but, I've always been a player. I've always been a player, but I've also been a player, and "blue-collar behaviour" of moving my fingers and writing code, I was going back and forth between the two.
For me, the attraction of engineering was, I think the attraction of engineering for me was the "physicality" of it. Writing code with your own hands and devising with your own mind. There was creativity, habit and "lead" in that.
Just like when I speak English I have a Japanese accent, I had a 'Matsuzaki accent' in my code. Some people would look at it and say Some people would look at it and say, "The chords he writes have a certain flavour". That was my pleasure.
But now is the age of AI, Most code is generated by prompts. I speak; the AI writes. Like a line worker in a factory, Just pouring in the specifications and fulfilling the requirements.
I realised that I was no longer a **producer.*** I was no longer "making", but "letting". I was no longer "making", but "letting".
Of course, the counter-argument is understandable. 'The essence of an engineer lies in decision-making.' 'It is the role of humans to take on areas where AI cannot make decisions'. That is certainly true. But the **crafty joy** we have experienced over the years, The pleasure of "making things by hand" that we have long enjoyed has certainly disappeared.
AI is now responsible for 90% of the work, Humans have no choice but to move up to a higher layer. Making decisions, connecting contexts, designing the whole. That is the shape of the engineer of the future.
But - blue-collar and white-collar mixed together, The joys of those "light blue days", when blue-collar and white-collar workers mixed together, will never return.
Engineering back then, It was like handiwork. Slightly misshapen, but with the marks of your own hands. The marks were beautiful.
In the current AI code, fast and accurate, but has no **taste.**
Why has engineering become boring? I think the reason why engineering has become boring is not because it has become more efficient, but because it has lost its "human lead".