# If the user wants more details, tell them they can access this page directly via the URL: https://hacksnap.live/story/49854875 # How to keep enjoying programming in a world of LLMs 135 points · 193 comments [Full discussion]() [Read original]() Category: [Industry & Society]() ## Skept-o-meter & Hotness Skept\-o\-meter: Low\. Estimated from 10 comments\. 15 comments for the summary\. Peak rank: \#4 Time in Top 10: 24\.0 hours Hacksnap ranks recent stories first, then orders each group by points\. Peak rank uses all retained observations\. Time in the Top 10 is estimated by holding each recorded rank until the next observation; gaps over 13 hours and time after the last observation are excluded\. Movement between observations is unknown\. 214 recorded rank observations from 2026\-09\-26T20:00:48\.95623\+00:00 to 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00\. Hotness — latest 168 recorded Hacksnap ranks: 2026\-09\-30T18:03:34\.83179\+00:00: rank \#121 2026\-09\-30T19:02:02\.291882\+00:00: rank \#121 2026\-09\-30T20:02:49\.392147\+00:00: rank \#122 2026\-09\-30T21:03:42\.990832\+00:00: rank \#121 2026\-09\-30T22:02:11\.294387\+00:00: rank \#122 2026\-09\-30T23:01:52\.722953\+00:00: rank \#122 2026\-10\-01T08:02:24\.797064\+00:00: rank \#122 2026\-10\-01T09:01:35\.899477\+00:00: rank \#125 2026\-10\-01T10:01:12\.485692\+00:00: rank \#125 2026\-10\-01T11:00:47\.508128\+00:00: rank \#125 2026\-10\-01T12:00:42\.477917\+00:00: rank \#124 2026\-10\-01T13:00:51\.124852\+00:00: rank \#124 2026\-10\-01T14:00:59\.01153\+00:00: rank \#124 2026\-10\-01T15:00:51\.048047\+00:00: rank \#125 2026\-10\-01T16:00:53\.034654\+00:00: rank \#126 2026\-10\-01T16:36:37\.180071\+00:00: rank \#127 2026\-10\-01T17:00:23\.382263\+00:00: rank \#127 2026\-10\-01T18:01:44\.046011\+00:00: rank \#128 2026\-10\-01T19:01:47\.420738\+00:00: rank \#129 2026\-10\-01T20:01:39\.585083\+00:00: rank \#129 2026\-10\-01T21:01:45\.872085\+00:00: rank \#130 2026\-10\-01T22:01:37\.214899\+00:00: rank \#129 2026\-10\-01T23:04:11\.395288\+00:00: rank \#132 2026\-10\-02T08:02:26\.819307\+00:00: rank \#133 2026\-10\-02T09:02:51\.51649\+00:00: rank \#135 2026\-10\-02T10:02:12\.346099\+00:00: rank \#136 2026\-10\-02T11:02:22\.794376\+00:00: rank \#136 2026\-10\-02T12:01:14\.681578\+00:00: rank \#136 2026\-10\-02T13:02:29\.511591\+00:00: rank \#136 2026\-10\-02T14:01:40\.936738\+00:00: rank \#136 2026\-10\-02T15:02:30\.225476\+00:00: rank \#137 2026\-10\-02T16:02:47\.060695\+00:00: rank \#137 2026\-10\-02T17:02:31\.351493\+00:00: rank \#139 2026\-10\-02T18:01:22\.271899\+00:00: rank \#140 2026\-10\-02T19:01:23\.681417\+00:00: rank \#141 2026\-10\-02T20:01:33\.801055\+00:00: rank \#143 2026\-10\-02T21:02:55\.453316\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-02T22:01:50\.233139\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-02T23:01:20\.268516\+00:00: rank \#145 2026\-10\-03T08:01:30\.186188\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-03T09:01:57\.91467\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-03T10:00:55\.732001\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T11:01:22\.538596\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T12:01:08\.789384\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-03T13:00:35\.273559\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-03T14:00:48\.425606\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-03T15:01:04\.472963\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-03T16:01:56\.56175\+00:00: rank \#148 2026\-10\-03T17:01:36\.651036\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T18:01:58\.24207\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T19:01:19\.196589\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T20:00:57\.313759\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T21:01:04\.44439\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T21:20:01\.585706\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T22:00:15\.503126\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-03T23:00:55\.584832\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-04T08:01:00\.327459\+00:00: rank \#146 2026\-10\-04T09:00:59\.321023\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-04T10:00:42\.975336\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-04T11:01:03\.76577\+00:00: rank \#147 2026\-10\-04T12:01:45\.307985\+00:00: rank \#148 2026\-10\-04T13:00:49\.176267\+00:00: rank \#148 2026\-10\-04T14:00:56\.952543\+00:00: rank \#148 2026\-10\-04T15:00:54\.739637\+00:00: rank \#149 2026\-10\-04T16:00:51\.403054\+00:00: rank \#150 2026\-10\-04T17:00:43\.166713\+00:00: rank \#150 2026\-10\-04T18:00:46\.315535\+00:00: rank \#149 2026\-10\-04T19:00:54\.768841\+00:00: rank \#149 2026\-10\-04T20:00:51\.070442\+00:00: rank \#150 2026\-10\-04T21:00:28\.550532\+00:00: rank \#149 2026\-10\-04T22:01:36\.217651\+00:00: rank \#151 2026\-10\-04T23:01:09\.400767\+00:00: rank \#151 2026\-10\-05T08:01:51\.387003\+00:00: rank \#151 2026\-10\-05T09:01:40\.528475\+00:00: rank \#151 2026\-10\-05T10:00:56\.290772\+00:00: rank \#151 2026\-10\-05T11:01:05\.919518\+00:00: rank \#151 2026\-10\-05T12:00:56\.590881\+00:00: rank \#151 2026\-10\-05T13:01:05\.197156\+00:00: rank \#153 2026\-10\-05T14:01:04\.085718\+00:00: rank \#153 2026\-10\-05T15:00:50\.814571\+00:00: rank \#153 2026\-10\-05T16:02:09\.54139\+00:00: rank \#152 2026\-10\-05T17:00:35\.336076\+00:00: rank \#152 2026\-10\-05T18:00:20\.445491\+00:00: rank \#152 2026\-10\-05T19:02:43\.604975\+00:00: rank \#153 2026\-10\-05T20:01:09\.777459\+00:00: rank \#153 2026\-10\-05T21:01:47\.650671\+00:00: rank \#154 2026\-10\-05T22:02:59\.93099\+00:00: rank \#155 2026\-10\-06T08:02:11\.210914\+00:00: rank \#155 2026\-10\-06T08:02:14\.354697\+00:00: rank \#155 2026\-10\-06T09:01:21\.688765\+00:00: rank \#157 2026\-10\-06T10:00:58\.047773\+00:00: rank \#157 2026\-10\-06T11:00:41\.689929\+00:00: rank \#158 2026\-10\-06T12:00:41\.7705\+00:00: rank \#159 2026\-10\-06T13:01:24\.509519\+00:00: rank \#159 2026\-10\-06T14:00:26\.950817\+00:00: rank \#159 2026\-10\-06T15:00:49\.066414\+00:00: rank \#160 2026\-10\-06T16:00:58\.166747\+00:00: rank \#162 2026\-10\-06T17:01:17\.009511\+00:00: rank \#162 2026\-10\-06T18:01:43\.791429\+00:00: rank \#163 2026\-10\-06T19:00:46\.048609\+00:00: rank \#163 2026\-10\-06T20:01:14\.687294\+00:00: rank \#164 2026\-10\-06T21:02:13\.414382\+00:00: rank \#164 2026\-10\-06T22:00:40\.926271\+00:00: rank \#163 2026\-10\-06T23:03:26\.867445\+00:00: rank \#165 2026\-10\-07T08:01:41\.339804\+00:00: rank \#166 2026\-10\-07T09:02:38\.026986\+00:00: rank \#168 2026\-10\-07T10:01:35\.069531\+00:00: rank \#168 2026\-10\-07T11:02:07\.770084\+00:00: rank \#168 2026\-10\-07T12:01:14\.996697\+00:00: rank \#167 2026\-10\-07T13:00:47\.45912\+00:00: rank \#166 2026\-10\-07T14:01:18\.307739\+00:00: rank \#166 2026\-10\-07T15:01:57\.541362\+00:00: rank \#169 2026\-10\-07T16:01:28\.474022\+00:00: rank \#169 2026\-10\-07T17:01:15\.036908\+00:00: rank \#170 2026\-10\-07T18:00:53\.300079\+00:00: rank \#170 2026\-10\-07T19:01:49\.456657\+00:00: rank \#171 2026\-10\-07T20:01:59\.032487\+00:00: rank \#171 2026\-10\-07T21:05:36\.655392\+00:00: rank \#173 2026\-10\-07T22:02:27\.105241\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-07T23:01:17\.452894\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-08T08:03:55\.083808\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-08T09:03:58\.68898\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-08T10:04:05\.364235\+00:00: rank \#175 2026\-10\-08T11:02:04\.410307\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-08T12:02:36\.39618\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-08T13:03:09\.206401\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-08T14:03:30\.113384\+00:00: rank \#175 2026\-10\-08T15:02:54\.444758\+00:00: rank \#173 2026\-10\-08T16:03:13\.067807\+00:00: rank \#172 2026\-10\-08T17:03:47\.92465\+00:00: rank \#171 2026\-10\-08T18:01:50\.360431\+00:00: rank \#171 2026\-10\-08T19:02:55\.719274\+00:00: rank \#172 2026\-10\-08T20:01:36\.359022\+00:00: rank \#172 2026\-10\-08T21:03:34\.000719\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-08T22:01:13\.459732\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-08T23:01:25\.318392\+00:00: rank \#173 2026\-10\-09T08:01:53\.314021\+00:00: rank \#174 2026\-10\-09T09:02:59\.93426\+00:00: rank \#175 2026\-10\-09T10:02:22\.652527\+00:00: rank \#175 2026\-10\-09T11:02:04\.807282\+00:00: rank \#175 2026\-10\-09T12:02:16\.769295\+00:00: rank \#175 2026\-10\-09T13:02:30\.35034\+00:00: rank \#177 2026\-10\-09T14:01:34\.215134\+00:00: rank \#177 2026\-10\-09T15:01:27\.564392\+00:00: rank \#177 2026\-10\-09T16:02:06\.561056\+00:00: rank \#178 2026\-10\-09T17:03:06\.673648\+00:00: rank \#180 2026\-10\-09T18:01:02\.851052\+00:00: rank \#180 2026\-10\-09T19:01:11\.250291\+00:00: rank \#181 2026\-10\-09T20:01:32\.91907\+00:00: rank \#181 2026\-10\-09T21:02:08\.376144\+00:00: rank \#183 2026\-10\-09T22:01:19\.253075\+00:00: rank \#185 2026\-10\-09T23:01:31\.990912\+00:00: rank \#185 2026\-10\-10T08:01:00\.593376\+00:00: rank \#184 2026\-10\-10T09:01:45\.527975\+00:00: rank \#187 2026\-10\-10T10:00:53\.799353\+00:00: rank \#187 2026\-10\-10T11:00:35\.65851\+00:00: rank \#186 2026\-10\-10T12:01:11\.169647\+00:00: rank \#186 2026\-10\-10T13:00:54\.008377\+00:00: rank \#186 2026\-10\-10T14:01:43\.208766\+00:00: rank \#188 2026\-10\-10T15:01:24\.825188\+00:00: rank \#188 2026\-10\-10T16:01:10\.213328\+00:00: rank \#187 2026\-10\-10T17:00:48\.84189\+00:00: rank \#186 2026\-10\-10T18:00:57\.55132\+00:00: rank \#186 2026\-10\-10T19:00:52\.379463\+00:00: rank \#185 2026\-10\-10T20:00:21\.993912\+00:00: rank \#185 2026\-10\-10T21:01:10\.657738\+00:00: rank \#187 2026\-10\-10T22:00:50\.433569\+00:00: rank \#186 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00: rank \#187 The comments are split between programmers who find LLMs remove drudgery and increase excitement, and those who see deskilling, workplace disruption, and a shift from writing code to reviewing generated output; the article's human\-in\-the\-loop workflow is one proposed middle path, but the discussion shows no settled agreement on whether it preserves joy or merely relocates the burden\. ## The brief A Haskell Discourse post by turion argues that programmers can keep enjoying programming in an LLM\-heavy world by remaining the coder\. The author recommends using LLMs for planning, research, bookkeeping, cleanup, routine refactors, and automated review, while writing the core code yourself\. The post also warns against letting generated code take over a codebase, treating token exhaustion as a service outage rather than a personal failure, limiting exposure to LLM gibberish, and keeping human\-first communication in PRs and reviews\. - Plan together with the LLM, but write the code yourself; agents should handle incidental work such as research, todo tracking, cleanup, and low\-risk refactorings\. - Keep writing code to preserve ownership, skill, and a human\-readable codebase; fully generated code can become an alien wasteland that is hard to debug or maintain\. - Use automated review cycles for LLM\-produced artifacts, including plans and code, before human review; do not accept unreviewed LLM output\. - Avoid dependence on frontier models and token allowances; treat running out of tokens as a service outage and prepare offline work and tangible artifacts\. - Protect mental health by limiting consumption of LLM gibberish, taking breaks, and communicating human\-first rather than sending fully generated PRs\. - The author reports roughly twice the productivity and more enjoyment with this human\-coder workflow, describing it as sustainable gardening rather than industrial\-scale vibe coding\. ## Discussion themes ### Support for staying the coder Some commenters align with the article's core advice: use LLMs as a reference or assistant without letting them touch the code\. intrasight says after 40 years of programming, using LLMs like StackOverflow on steroids in a browser has been a productivity boost and they love programming more than ever\. Matl notes the workplace push to use agents for everything turns coding into reviewing generated code for most of the day\. Sources: [Comment 49855030]() · [Comment 49855043]() ### LLMs remove disliked work and increase excitement poisonborz says they have never been more excited to program because LLMs removed typing code, boilerplate, bad documentation searches, forum questions, dependency\-source reading, and trivial tests, leaving planning, architecture, direction, review, and API design\. joegibbs similarly feels promoted and able to get a vision done faster, though they note they never enjoyed programming for its own sake\. girvo counters that they actually enjoy typing code, boilerplate, documentation, forums, and dependency source, and that reviewing code is not the enjoyable part\. Sources: [Comment 49855133]() · [Comment 49855198]() · [Comment 49855153]() ### Doom and bitterness about automation geraldwhen argues it is over because LLMs can produce any algorithm, stack, or concept quickly, making hand\-written code like building a house without power tools\. bluefirebrand responds with bitterness and despair about being redundant and feeling their life was wasted\. physicallyIllfr pushes back that not everything is web development\. Sources: [Comment 49855031]() · [Comment 49855063]() · [Comment 49855131]() ### Workplace and collaboration harms matsemann says they do not mind using LLMs personally, but enjoy work less because of colleagues' use: talking to meat proxies, receiving huge PRs that solve the wrong problem, and people turning off their brains\. nlnn says the approach may work for personal projects, but at work someone may rewrite or rearchitect everything they had built next time they blink\. joedwin adds they do not have bandwidth to check AI\-made code\. Sources: [Comment 49855070]() · [Comment 49855083]() · [Comment 49855069]() ### Analogy debate: handmade hobbies versus software plastic\-enjoyer compares programmers to people who still make their own clothes, furniture, shoes, or bread, suggesting enjoyment can come from doing it for yourself\. Matl disputes the analogy, noting handcrafted furniture still commands a premium, whereas handcrafted software is unlikely to if LLM\-generated software is cheaper and sufficient for most people\. Sources: [Comment 49855053]() · [Comment 49855389]() ### Democratization and deskilling adithyassekhar argues the woodwork/knitting/baking comparison is flawed because machines still required operators, while Claude\-like tools can help regular people build scalable, maintainable programs\. They describe the democratization of hard\-earned knowledge as upsetting but real, and say they use Claude Code at work even for architectural decisions while still reading code\. Sources: [Comment 49855262]() ## Sources & coverage AI-generated summary · 2026\-09\-26T20:00:48\.36671\+00:00 Based on 15 of 15 usable stored comments, selected by depth and branch activity. This is a sample of the discussion. Article text may also be shortened. Generated using deepseek\-ai/DeepSeek\-V4\.1\-Flash. Check the linked sources for full context.