Claude made me think like a manager... do we have the same effect on others?
Posted by stikves@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 20 comments
have been experimenting with Claude (and other) AI assistance for coding. One thing I realized is how frustrating it is to work with something (someone) who should be capable, but makes many basic mistakes.
Many times, I just remove my filters and go at it "why are you being stupid", "no, you did not actually test it properly", "are you sure this is the right way to do it", "didn't I tell you this just 10 minutes ago?"
And then I realized many times I did make similar mistakes. Did not properly understand PR comments before trying to force a sub-optimal solution. Sometimes forgot to check in a crucial update "it works on my computer"
Is this what we do? And is this the effect we have on others that are patient with us?
rupayanc@reddit
The "manager" framing might be making this harder to sit with than it needs to be. Managers deal with people dynamics. That's its own skill set. What's actually happening is different. You're becoming a product owner, holding more context across more parallel streams than one person could before. That's not a demotion. It's a scope expansion that used to require a team. The devs who lean into this are going to hold 5x the surface area of the ones who resist it.
ninetofivedev@reddit
ITT: OP thinks being an asshole makes you a manager.
AggravatingFlow1178@reddit
You think the hallmark of "thinking like a manager" is getting frustrated at others?
Please stay an IC.
Wide-Pop6050@reddit
I agree that you lack self awareness
I really hope that you were never as clueless as Claude
RelationshipOk4166@reddit
Probably. Claude didn’t make you think like a manager, it just removed the part where you have to pretend to be nice.
throwaway_0x90@reddit
This is why people say the jr.SWE career path got wrecked.
How Sr.SWEs mentor jr.SWEs and how Sr.SWEs interact with AI have an extremely high overlap.
kdawg94@reddit
This isn't how a manager thinks at all. I think your self awareness just seems low?
coyoteazul2@reddit
I do sometimes feel that way about my juniors (and not so juniors anymore too). I swallow it up and try to guide them the best i can, but it can be frustrating when they don't even know how to start tackling a problem when I have already done the same procedure of "asking the right questions" with them many times before
kdawg94@reddit
Just part of coaching imo! I constantly have to teach others things that I learned myself, and I'm still learning how to teach others to fish.
Mundane-Charge-1900@reddit
I was a manager for a couple years. Managing a bunch of simultaneous agent sessions reminds me of some of the parts of that job that I disliked like the constant context switching. If I focus, I spend too much time waiting around for the agent.
I like to think I'm an empathetic person. When I had to manage multiple people, redirecting them to be successful was mostly enjoyable. With coding agents, my frustration is higher for sure. The number of times I have to yell STOP! is more than I would like.
They really are like the most arrogant, know it all new grad developer, but they actually almost do know everything.
Zealousideal-War2807@reddit
No, I would hope that no one in a management position assumes bad faith that much and has that much contempt for other people. Sounds like someone that would be horrible to work with.
zugzwangister@reddit
The best and worst thing I did was have Claude maintain documentation to trace changes to requirements and design decisions.
It's the best because when I start questioning something, Claude will often realize by itself it made a mistake.
It's the worst because some of the time, the problem lies with my original requirements or design decisions. 🤣
mark2685@reddit
I’ve found that the problem always lies in lack of or ambiguous requirements. “/grill-me” or some variation has been great at reducing that ambiguity and ensure I’m making decisions ahead of time and the agent isn’t making them somewhere in the process on their own.
HRApprovedUsername@reddit
Op has an Indian manager
ExperiencedDevs-ModTeam@reddit
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chosenpluto@reddit
shut uuuup
engineered_academic@reddit
Be nice.
ExperiencedDevs-ModTeam@reddit
Rule 2: No Disrespectful Language or Conduct
Don’t be a jerk. Act maturely. No racism, unnecessarily foul language, ad hominem charges, sexism - none of these are tolerated here. This includes posts that could be interpreted as trolling, such as complaining about DEI (Diversity) initiatives or people of a specific sex or background at your company.
Do not submit posts or comments that break, or promote breaking the Reddit Terms and Conditions or Content Policy or any other Reddit policy.
Violations = Warning, 7-Day Ban, Permanent Ban.
engineered_academic@reddit
God I hope my manager doesn't think like this.
zaemis@reddit
None of my managers had that much self awareness. And made mistakes but not to the extent that these PhD level thinking systems make.