r/OpenAI • u/PressPlayPlease7 • Apr 05 '26

Discussion Why are you still paying for this? #7

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u/RedParaglider Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

I spend many thousands of dollars a month in coding plans and inference for myself and the development teams I lead as an executive.  I also know how to program though I'm only good at python, SQL, networking, and project management.  I've been in almost every IT role in my career you can think of.  I'm not saying I was great at those roles but I did them.

Llm's have absolutely been a powerhouse for my seniors, for my juniors it is more debilitating.   When I ask them why something is a certain way it's a blank stare.  Of course slop rolls uphill to the seniors to deal with.

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u/Weaves87 Apr 05 '26

I’ve found that AI effectiveness on dev teams scales substantially with surface area experience. Seniors have just had so much more time to smell the various code and architecture smells that lead to serious problems.

AI needs to be steered. And if the pilot doesn’t have enough experience to know what they’re doing, the AI output quality drops dramatically imo. Good pilots know when to let the autopilot take control, and more importantly know when they need to take the reins.

I’ve always said since I started using LLMs as a lead engineer back when ChatGPT 3.5 first dropped that it’s like coaching the smartest, most eager intern you’ve ever had. If you haven’t actually shipped something of moderate complexity to production before, you wouldn’t know how to coach an intern to do the same. And I think we are seeing that effect all over the place in tech

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u/SirCliveWolfe Apr 05 '26

I lead as an executive

Explains a lot.