Surprised, and a bit demotivating, at reading the $now two dismissive comments on somebody sharing their opinion of people losing their motivation and sustainability in web development education, specifically due to LLMs.
They didn't just create courses and ebooks, they tried to educate in how the web platform and API works and what changes. Free ebooks(Axel's books are GREAT)/youtube videos are mentioned as well, but they now hold very little value in connecting with an audience these days, because nobody is browsing web content, so why diminish that loss?
What do people actually expect to happen when they say LLMs creates bloated/inaccessible websites easily, but that's okay because people do that. Generating more code is the solution that problem?
I really like supporting/sponsoring educators a lot more rather than paying a monthly subscription to $corp.
I think these courses and e-books have always sold because of the anticipated value they bring to the reader. People dream of a web development career, or of using a framework that magically makes their job not suck, and the course or book seems like a gateway to get there.
They've always been "mini-bubbles"; for some people, a single book or course might really be the thing that gets their dream career started, but the average book probably does not have a great ROI.
Their sales have collapsed because these dreams have collapsed. And there's a new dream to replace them.
This reminds me of how in the era of exponential CPU speed ups (1995-2015?), people thought it wasn't worth optimizing your programs, because the next generation of CPUs would close the gap for you. Maybe people now think that we don't need innovations anymore, because the next generation of LLMs will either do it for us anyway, or they will make progressively better use of the existing technologies.
The era of exponential CPU speed ups went from the 1950s to 2005, when CPU speeds generally capped out at 3GHz. Since then we've gotten more cores, but raw speed hasn't changed that much.
Fair enough, I actually had the sentiment in mind when I was writing down the time range. I heard that argument quite often in relation to the rise of bytecode and interpreted languages as alternatives to C/C++ for application development in the 90s. Though perhaps people had been saying this before that too.
I don't get the complaining: Especially in front-end web development, the ecosystem changed so rapidly over the years (usually in the order of the half life of an actinium isotope) that as long as someone churned along with all the latest frameworks, they would retain their market value, and many people I knew were very arrogant about this. Books on the topic were quickly outdated.
LLMs are really good at these things, and adapt to more current frameworks. But even if the slop is bloated and non-accessible: The stuff built by most web developers nowadays is also usually bloated and non-accessible.
Ironically, a11y is a front end topic that does not change that much over the years. And then, not everything new in the ecosystem reaches corporate work that quickly so knowing the basics is important.
[Developers] aren’t gathering together in online spaces to learn and teach and share exciting projects anymore
As a slight more optimist view in my personal experience, I'm here just to read other people views even if I'll never learn or understand the language they are talking about.
On another note, it's a nice recap of several authors that I should check. Quoting the Simpsons:
You know, if we get through to just that one little girl, it'll all be worth it.
Yes. Particularly if that little girl happens to pay $46,000 for that doll.
zetashift | 22 days ago
Surprised, and a bit demotivating, at reading the $now two dismissive comments on somebody sharing their opinion of people losing their motivation and sustainability in web development education, specifically due to LLMs.
They didn't just create courses and ebooks, they tried to educate in how the web platform and API works and what changes. Free ebooks(Axel's books are GREAT)/youtube videos are mentioned as well, but they now hold very little value in connecting with an audience these days, because nobody is browsing web content, so why diminish that loss?
What do people actually expect to happen when they say LLMs creates bloated/inaccessible websites easily, but that's okay because people do that. Generating more code is the solution that problem?
I really like supporting/sponsoring educators a lot more rather than paying a monthly subscription to $corp.
weaksauce | 22 days ago
the thing they were giving away to the world for free to better it has turned around and made it much worse for a lot of people.
michiel | 23 days ago
I think these courses and e-books have always sold because of the anticipated value they bring to the reader. People dream of a web development career, or of using a framework that magically makes their job not suck, and the course or book seems like a gateway to get there.
They've always been "mini-bubbles"; for some people, a single book or course might really be the thing that gets their dream career started, but the average book probably does not have a great ROI.
Their sales have collapsed because these dreams have collapsed. And there's a new dream to replace them.
citbl | 22 days ago
Imagine 10 years from now we will have evolved front ends exactly as much as copper pipes have evolved in 3 decades.
If everyone just vibe the front end with their latest mcp-superpower-rip-all-dribbbble and make-no-mistake plugin, there will be more innovation.
If we are the last generation of knowing how to innovate we will truly be doomed. Educators in this space are extremely important.
enobayram | 22 days ago
This reminds me of how in the era of exponential CPU speed ups (1995-2015?), people thought it wasn't worth optimizing your programs, because the next generation of CPUs would close the gap for you. Maybe people now think that we don't need innovations anymore, because the next generation of LLMs will either do it for us anyway, or they will make progressively better use of the existing technologies.
spc476 | 22 days ago
The era of exponential CPU speed ups went from the 1950s to 2005, when CPU speeds generally capped out at 3GHz. Since then we've gotten more cores, but raw speed hasn't changed that much.
enobayram | 22 days ago
Fair enough, I actually had the sentiment in mind when I was writing down the time range. I heard that argument quite often in relation to the rise of bytecode and interpreted languages as alternatives to C/C++ for application development in the 90s. Though perhaps people had been saying this before that too.
FRIGN | 23 days ago
I don't get the complaining: Especially in front-end web development, the ecosystem changed so rapidly over the years (usually in the order of the half life of an actinium isotope) that as long as someone churned along with all the latest frameworks, they would retain their market value, and many people I knew were very arrogant about this. Books on the topic were quickly outdated.
LLMs are really good at these things, and adapt to more current frameworks. But even if the slop is bloated and non-accessible: The stuff built by most web developers nowadays is also usually bloated and non-accessible.
fedemp | 22 days ago
Ironically, a11y is a front end topic that does not change that much over the years. And then, not everything new in the ecosystem reaches corporate work that quickly so knowing the basics is important.
fedemp | 22 days ago
As a slight more optimist view in my personal experience, I'm here just to read other people views even if I'll never learn or understand the language they are talking about.
On another note, it's a nice recap of several authors that I should check. Quoting the Simpsons: