Why AI Has Made This Programmer Sad, and Why He Still Hopes for Coding

Summary

In a personal video and blog post, programmer Andy Balaam explains that AI has made him deeply sad, even though it has not materially changed his daily life very much. He says the main source of that sadness is a sense of disrespect toward programming, a craft that has shaped his work, identity, creativity, and hope of being valued. Industry voices describing programming as obsolete, together with employers’ interest in replacing programmers with AI-generated imitations, made him confront how easily his profession could be treated as a commodity. Balaam acknowledges that AI may threaten his career, especially because he refuses to use it, but says career anxiety does not fully explain his reaction. He encourages himself and people who code for enjoyment to continue finding value in programming and to support creators who keep teaching it. For learners, he rejects the claim that coding skills are obsolete. He argues that programming develops the ability to build, analyse, remodel, and debug complex systems, and that understanding how code works will remain useful even when tools such as compilers automate lower-level tasks. He points to the continued need for deep knowledge of machine code and computer pipelines after compilers were invented. Despite his sadness about the industry, he says he has no concern about his children learning non-AI-powered coding at school and university. He concludes by affirming that people deserve respect regardless of whether they can code or use AI.