I started programming when I was 11 years old. Well, writing simple HTML and CSS sites for mobile phones. Then I learned more and more, and ended up becoming a software engineer.
In the programming community, we used to discuss which programming languages are “real” and which are not. People used to say: “PHP is a joke of a language” or “JavaScript is ridiculous” and “real programmers only write C.” But now, the joke’s on the programming purists: Those who constantly automated everyone else out of their jobs have been replaced by LLMs, and now, even worse, we have reached the point where only one language is real (and relevant): English.
The change in our work is extremely profound. We accidentally changed our own profession more than we ever changed anyone else's. It used to take months and months of writing “if”s, “else”s, “while”s, and “function”s to create a usable software product. Now it only takes one or two really well-written sentences and about half an hour to get not perfect, but usable and illustrative minimal viable products. Before LLM coding, programming languages used to look a bit strange. Now, our primary language is English. And just like with writing books or talking to people, we need to know how to put thoughts together to convene our ideas and desires, to convince, and to accomplish.
I’d like to pat myself on the head with an imaginary hand and think that this is something I always envisioned. Despite what many think is directly linked to our trade, I have always thought that 90 percent of programming has nothing to do with maths and physics. It’s more like linguistics and art.
Programming languages are, after all, languages. And creating software is a very artistic process; there is beauty and a lot of thought in every finished program. Of course LLMs are math, and you can’t find a route on the map without vectors and graphs—but most of our work is creatively putting words together to make computers act efficiently.
Eloquence in talking to computers is a skill in itself. Linguistic skills will therefore become the key to survival, both professional and personal.
