February 7, 2026
Press F to skip frameworks
Software Engineering Is Back
Bots write the code, humans call the shots — and framework fans are freaking out
TLDR: An engineer says AI “coding agents” now handle the busywork and make many frameworks unnecessary. Comments split between “software engineering never left,” frustration with bots auto-picking flashy tools, and calls for minimalist setups—signaling a real shift and a messy debate over how we’ll build next.
The post claims a tech turning point: “automated programming” with AI coding agents now does the typing, while humans play architect. Cue the comment section going full popcorn. One reader quotes the spiciest line — “Software engineers are scared of designing things themselves” — and fires back with a bewildered “what?”, the collective eye-roll heard across the thread. Another shrugs, “It never left,” arguing real software engineering never went anywhere, it just stopped shouting. Meanwhile, an old-school webmaster says the “grunt work is going away,” but leaves a cliffhanger caveat, trailing off mid-sentence like a season finale — uncertainty is the vibe.
The funniest friction? People complaining their AI defaults to trendy toolkits unless you beg for basics. One commenter gripes they must tell Claude to use plain HTML/CSS/JS (the simplest web building blocks) or it starts “React-ing,” sparking jokes about bots with a framework addiction. Minimalists clap back, cheering small, standards-first setups like Svelte and Nue, while others yell “good riddance” to layers of “middle work.” It’s a spicy split: some are celebrating the end of bloated toolchains, others warning that ditching frameworks might just trade one babysitting job for another. Drama level: high, memes: plentiful, coffee: required.
Key Points
- •The author has been building a product end to end using frontier AI models and coding agents since December 2025.
- •They report that AI tools now meaningfully reduce manual coding when placed in a carefully configured environment.
- •The author positions this shift as “automated programming,” a term attributed to Antirez.
- •They argue that engineers can focus on architecture and product decisions while still inspecting and correcting generated code.
- •The author contends many frameworks and libraries add unnecessary layers and can be avoided with automated programming; one claimed framework purpose discussed is “Simplification.”