I was a 10x engineer. Now I'm useless.

Name: I was a 10x engineer. Now I'm useless.
Uploaded: 2026-03-07T12:01:19.000Z
Duration: 12 min 29 s
Channel: Mo Bitar

Mo BitarMarch 7, 202612m

Topics6

AI Has Destroyed My Coding Ability0:00 Testing with ChatGPT 5.42:32 Loss of Identity and Emotional Attachment4:00 Mass Psychosis and AI Camps6:31 Engineer Job Market Shift9:00 Path Forward11:00

In a Nutshell

AI has eroded the speaker's coding skills, fostering dependency and "AI psychosis" where manual coding feels pointless compared to instant LLM outputs, leading to soulless "hot dog" products without passion or emotional attachment. Vibe coding via un-reviewed AI-generated code works (e.g., deploying a functional app on shape.work with ChatGPT 5.4 and AWS CLI), but destroys identity, growth, and artisanal software craft. Recovery demands cold-turkey deletion of AI tools to rebuild hand-coding ability, amid job market uncertainty and debates over adapting versus rejecting LLMs.

AI-Generated Notes

These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.

AI has completely oneshotted my ability to code. Many joke about AI psychosis affecting others, but I've realized I have it. My brain is fried by the easy button from LLM companies: press a button for instant results. Now, when trying to code by hand, my brain says, "Why code by hand when you can press a button for similar results?"

I'm at the mercy of AI companies to build models for my software product. Problems: responsible developers review code, but reviewing AI code is impossible. AIs move at 1000 mph while humans read at 30 mph. Can we ship without reviewing? Recent videos explore this to ship products. OpenClaw proves it: Peter Steinberger never looked at the huge, monstrous code, showing what’s possible if you don’t care about the code.

Vibe coding is like evolution with natural selection: it tries random things, keeps what passes tests, building an incomprehensible DNA codebase that made us. If evolution can do that without understanding, an LLM—better than random—with tests should work too. "If it’s good enough to make me, it’s good enough to make my damn to-do app."

Yesterday, ChatGPT 5.4 released. Tested hypothesis: app on localhost needs deployment for downloads and signups. Gave CodeX 5.4 (likely ChatGPT 5.4) access to AWS CLI, GitHub API for pipelines, commits. Prompt: deploy without reviewing code. It worked—go to shape.work, hit download, everything functions.

Problem: no idea who I am in this process. Early software is intimate between provider and users—artisanal, handcrafted, tight feedback. But this lacks emotional attachment. Didn’t earn it, suffer for it. Created a hot dog: presumably food in synthetic wrapper, fits sandwich, tastes like calories, transaction complete. But I can’t sell it—I only work on passionate projects. No amount of money motivates without passion.

Craftspeople, developers, artists change through struggle: sleep uncertain, wake with solutions, brain expands. That’s gone—no suffering, growth, or becoming better. Self-taught developers launched businesses by doing projects. Now we make hot dogs, no emotional bond to output.

Everyone in liminal waiting: WWII between countries/governments/AI labs, AI job threats, distractions like McDonald’s sandwiches, Shape store. Mass psychosis. Holding breath for AI labs to determine job safety. Two camps: one says adapt with tools or get left behind; other says LLMs are idiotic statistical machines—using them leaves you behind. I’m in the second after oneshotting my brain.

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I was a 10x engineer. Now I'm useless.

AI Has Destroyed My Coding Ability00:00

Vibe Coding Like Evolution01:30

Testing with ChatGPT 5.402:32

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