François Chollet argues that the difficulty of software engineering stays essentially constant regardless of abstraction level, because human cognition adapts to new tools.
He says tools are affordances rather than magic wands that eliminate work, and that great software engineering remains immensely challenging despite changed workflows.
Simon Willison's background post similarly argues that coding agents make software engineering harder, requiring extraordinary discipline and knowledge.
I think the "difficulty" of software engineering is essentially constant no matter what abstraction level you move to, because human cognition adapts to new tools until it can fully utilize itself.
Tools are only affordances, not a magic wand that makes work disappear.
Great software engineering was immensely challenging before. It is still immensely challenging now, despite very different workflows.
The more time I spend working with coding agents, the more convinced I am that they make software engineering even harder We can do amazing things with them, but unlocking their full potential requires extraordinary discipline and knowledgeView quoted post on X
Source: François Chollet · x.comPublished · added here
