>> I also know which code I could write with LLMs but I never check in LLM code. I could, but that would be cheating. I spend the hours writing code by hand.
Spoken like someone who charges by the hour.... you are incentivised to do things the slowest possible way...
Now, of course, slow might be better, or fast might be better, but you frame fast as "cheating" not as "inferior"... which is ... interesting..
> you are incentivised to do things the slowest possible way...
Not when you have long-term (multi-years) clients. It's basically a very flexible permanent job, where you are free to bill from 0 up to full 40 or more hours per week.
Exactly. I hired someone who was a good developer but he was charging hourly and extremely slow for what we needed. I am a software engineer (and a founder) myself so I get what it takes to write good code but I am no longer waiting for a dev to turn something around in 20 hours when I can use LLM to write it in 1 or less.
Going forward, I am no longer hiring hourly rate devs. Either fixed rate project or full time as needed. No hourly.
Charging by the hour was one of the worst things for my career (was just starting out). Never realised at the time that I was subconsciously doing a slower job and not trying to make it faster or really improve until I left.
>> I also know which code I could write with LLMs but I never check in LLM code. I could, but that would be cheating. I spend the hours writing code by hand.
Spoken like someone who charges by the hour.... you are incentivised to do things the slowest possible way...
Now, of course, slow might be better, or fast might be better, but you frame fast as "cheating" not as "inferior"... which is ... interesting..
> you are incentivised to do things the slowest possible way...
Not when you have long-term (multi-years) clients. It's basically a very flexible permanent job, where you are free to bill from 0 up to full 40 or more hours per week.
Exactly. I hired someone who was a good developer but he was charging hourly and extremely slow for what we needed. I am a software engineer (and a founder) myself so I get what it takes to write good code but I am no longer waiting for a dev to turn something around in 20 hours when I can use LLM to write it in 1 or less.
Going forward, I am no longer hiring hourly rate devs. Either fixed rate project or full time as needed. No hourly.
Charging by the hour was one of the worst things for my career (was just starting out). Never realised at the time that I was subconsciously doing a slower job and not trying to make it faster or really improve until I left.
Over 20 years of experience in full stack and mobile here. I'll do it for $200/hr and even use LLMs where useful so half the time is needed.
Unless you are a very well known expert in a certain niche, who the hell is paying $400/hr?
Honestly if people are still willing to pay $300/hr consistently, you’re probably doing something right
Most clients care more about results/reliability than whether every line was typed by hand.
Do you have demand for 8h/day, 5days/week?