Ask HN: Anyone still coding like 2021? Where do you work?
Hacker News users debate coding without LLMs, with one developer fired for refusing AI tools and others describing daily hand-coding practice to counter skill atrophy.
An Ask HN thread collects experiences of developers who still write code without LLM assistance. One contributor says he was fired for political reasons after refusing to use LLMs despite adequate stated performance, and observes fewer job ads now require LLM use. Others describe starting each day with a LeetCode problem or 30-60 minutes of hand-coding to stay sharp, contractual bans on AI-generated code for a government-adjacent embedded product over unresolved copyright issues, and inconsistent corporate policies where ChatGPT or Codex use flip-flops between allowed and blocked while a CIO mandates 70-80% AI-generated code next year.
- Developer fired for refusing LLM use despite stated performance adequacy
- Users practice daily hand-coding, including LeetCode, to prevent skill atrophy
- Embedded government-facing product bans AI coding over unresolved copyright questions
- Corporate AI policies described as inconsistent, with tools blocked then reallowed
- Regulated medical software teams slow to adopt AI due to legal review processes
From the original article
14 min read at news.ycombinator.comI don't touch LLMs for any purpose (when I can help it, they are frequently shoved in your face regardless); and up until recently was doing just fine. I was fired for this stance, not for performance reasons (officially stated that there was no concern with my output), only for political reasons (insubordination, refusing to use LLMs to do my work for me).
By sph · news.ycombinator.com
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