Reminders for Engineers Using LLMs

Code is cheap

Maybe you should actually rewrite your whole stack if things start breaking. As long as you keep the harnesses for verification (e2e tests, parameterised tests) and the institutional knowledge, you’re fine. #

Code reviews are a historic relic

You will have to figure out knowledge disbursal across your engineering org accordingly. #

Using LLMs defaults you to the shallows

If you’re not careful, you will get caught up in the how something gets built more than what it is. Engineers already have a tendency to get lost in the details and be myopic. Make time to take a step back and engage with the tech (and product) as its own unit. #

Stretch your mind

With llms you are creating so much more surface area. It becomes (even more) important to build your own systems to keep track of it all in your head1. #

Footnotes

  1. Or maybe this is a function of working at a high-intensity product org/start up? I feel the need to be able to talk eloquently about any of the twelve things I’ve worked on this last week at a micro and macro level at a moment’s notice. I am currently bad at this. Advice appreciated. ↩ #

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