Do you know how to write the code you write in assembler instead of a higher level language? How many of your peers do?
Most "know what has to be done, but not quite how it is done". This is just another level of abstraction.
I learnt the lesson 30+ years ago that while it was (and still occasionally is) useful to understand the principles of assembly, it had become useless to write assembly outside of a few narrow niches. A decade later I moved from C and C++ to higher level languages again.
Moving up the abstraction levels is learning leverage.
I deliver far more now - with or without AI - than I did when I wrote assembler, or C for that matter. I deliver more again with AI than without.
> Do you know how to write the code you write in assembler instead of a higher level language?
Actually, I do, but then you could ask me if I can develop in machine language, and I'll hate to reply no. The abstraction is not the point, but the isolation from the core task. If you're a brilliant fashion designer, you even know how to sew, but outsource your work to an Asian sweatshop, you can never be sure it's well done until you see the result.
Using an abstraction is not the same as using a black box.
> I deliver far more now - with or without AI - than I did when I wrote assembler, or C for that matter. I deliver more again with AI than without.
> That's what matters.
Also, in some disciplines, quality sometimes matters more than quantity.
Most "know what has to be done, but not quite how it is done". This is just another level of abstraction.
I learnt the lesson 30+ years ago that while it was (and still occasionally is) useful to understand the principles of assembly, it had become useless to write assembly outside of a few narrow niches. A decade later I moved from C and C++ to higher level languages again.
Moving up the abstraction levels is learning leverage.
I deliver far more now - with or without AI - than I did when I wrote assembler, or C for that matter. I deliver more again with AI than without.
That's what matters.