The huge disconnect is that the skill set to use LLMs for code effectively is not the same skill set of standard software engineering. There is a very heavy intersection and I would say you cannot be effective at LLM software development without being an effective software engineer, but being an effective software engineer does not by any means make somebody good at LLM development.
Very talented engineers, coworkers, that I would place above myself in skill, seemed stumped by it, while I have realized at least a 10x productively gain.
The claim that LLMs are not being applied in mature, complex code-bases is pure fantasy, example: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.06972. Here Google is using LLMs to accelerate the migration of mature, complex production systems.
Very talented engineers, coworkers, that I would place above myself in skill, seemed stumped by it, while I have realized at least a 10x productively gain.
The claim that LLMs are not being applied in mature, complex code-bases is pure fantasy, example: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.06972. Here Google is using LLMs to accelerate the migration of mature, complex production systems.