Hi all, Where: GoLUG Online: https://meet.jit.si/golug When: Wednesday, 10/1/2025 7pm sharp Eastern Daylight time Arrive 15 minutes early for Microphone check & discussion Who: Steve Litt, Troubleshooter, Developer, Tech Writer What: Discussion: Using LLMs the Right Way
As a regular inhabitant of LinkedIn, I see an ever increasing bunch of BS concerning topics AI and Vibe Coding (the ultimate undefined phrase). There are those people scared to death that their developer jobs will be completely taken over by Large Language Models (LLMs), and out of panic and fear they trot out the old tropes about "vibe coders" having ChatGPT or Claude spit out a 5K line application and deploy it live, so that an army of $200/hr consultants can come in and fix the mess. Then there are the self-proclaimed "realists" proclaiming that human developers are obsolete, you'd better accept it, software writes software that writes software that writes software, and it's better code than anything written by a human, So become a business executive. Perhaps this will be true someday, but it's nowhere near true today. Just today I saw a LinkedIn post blaming "AI" for permanent brainwave alterations and inattentiveness. Well yeah, if you do any activity wrong: Listening to music, watching TV, programming, writing books, weightlifting, taking vitamins or making money, it can change your brain, and often not for the better. You just gotta love these guys who spend valuable brainpower worrying themselves to death that job applicants are using AI to answer the interview questions. If the applicant comes up with the right answer in such a time and emotional crunch, why do they care if the applicant used a tool to do it? Unless it's a matter of the interviewer not knowing whether the answer is correct, in which case maybe it's the interviewer who shouldn't have a job. Anyway, if the applicant can quickly come up with correct answers using his AI tools, imagine how productive he'll be on the job. Work isn't a closed-book activity :-) Here's the truth: LLMs are a tool. A very powerful tool, but just a tool. They do a big portion of the job very fast, but they don't do the whole job. As of 2025 you still need human troubleshooters, you need people who understand how to write readable and modular code so it's maintainable even when the LLM can't do the job, you need somebody to interview and specify. Imagine the ruckus laborers must have made when backhoes were invented. A backhoe and its operator could out produce ten strong and skilled ditch diggers. But if you look around, at every jobsite using a backhoe you'll see one or two guys with shovels to get the last few inches dug around pipes, etc. The project still had an architect and an engineer. A backhoe can't do the whole job, and neither can an LLM. Very few people on LinkedIn stop to think about this. LLMs lead neither to heaven nor hell. They're a tool. A very powerful tool, but just a tool. And by the way, LLMs are hugely helpful in learning new things, and I've found that interacting with them also helps me discuss things with humans. At the discussion I'll briefly reveal how I use LLMs to help me develop software, learn new things, and turn them into a high quality, lightning fast lookup software or service manual. Then others will reveal their tricks, tips, and policies of using LLMs. We should all come away with a better understanding of how to use LLMs as a tool. Hope to see you there. SteveT Steve Litt GoLUG Publicity Coordinator
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