Ex-plumber dev: ChatGPT can't teach you real plumbing — it's no better than Google
ctjlewis · x · 2026-09-29
Developer ctjlewis, drawing on real plumbing experience, pushes back on the "ChatGPT can teach you trades" narrative. The core of the job — crawling into filthy crawlspaces to replace drainage parts, knocking down walls and cutting out old pipe — is something ChatGPT offers no guarantees for. The things you can do (P-trap fixes, swapping toilets and sinks, winterizing) were always possible with Google, so AI adds nothing. Most of his jobs were in vacated, destroyed Section 8 housing contracted by Fannie Mae, where nobody could "just do it," and pressurized copper pipe mistakes mean catastrophic flooding. His verdict: believing LLMs now make everyone a plumber is delusional.
Related event: Claim That ChatGPT Will Cut Plumber Demand Mocked by Former Plumber(5 posts)→
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