CPython contributor argues hand-writing code is how engineers grow — outsourcing it to Claude costs you
Fun_Yogurtcloset_268 · reddit · 2026-10-05
An engineer who has contributed to CPython core reflects on what software engineering means when code generation is nearly free.
His core argument: physically typing code is the easiest part of the job, but it guarantees your involvement in every detail of a solution — design research, discovering edge cases during implementation, adapting the design — and that involvement is what makes engineers grow. If you hand a non-trivial problem to Claude with "solve it," you get something that works but that you don't understand, and you stop learning.
He also notes that prompting at high granularity (specifying every detail yourself) saves little typing time anyway, suggesting people really value LLMs for solving problems for them, not for typing faster. He uses LLMs at work, but deliberately in a limited way. The piece ends on an open question: should engineers keep growing technically, or just grow in prompting — and will skills built over a career stay valuable?
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