AI Coding assistants provide little value because a programmer's job is to think

Writing code is easy, but programming well requires deep understanding and reasoning. AI-generated code often produces bad code that appears functional but lacks important context and considerations. Effective programming involves thinking through runtime issues, environments, and abstractions not directly represented in the code text. Good engineering focuses more on thoughtful design and leveraging existing modules rather than churning out code snippets. This approach leads to higher quality software that works as intended.