Notes from Brent Fitzgerald
- 06 Dec, 2025 *
I understand and reap many benefits of using LLMs to code: speed, learning, experimentation, automation, etc etc.
But sometimes I miss the feeling of working with a codebase manually and directly. I think it’s a combination of flow state, a sense of ownership, a certain kind of mindfulness, and a gentler pace.
When coding with an agent, I notice myself feeling impatient. I just want results. I want to see the agent go brrrr, the tests to pass, the feature added, and the work done. Why? Not sure. I guess to go on to the next task?
Writing code unassisted now feels so slow and takes more energy. It’s hard to …
Notes from Brent Fitzgerald
- 06 Dec, 2025 *
I understand and reap many benefits of using LLMs to code: speed, learning, experimentation, automation, etc etc.
But sometimes I miss the feeling of working with a codebase manually and directly. I think it’s a combination of flow state, a sense of ownership, a certain kind of mindfulness, and a gentler pace.
When coding with an agent, I notice myself feeling impatient. I just want results. I want to see the agent go brrrr, the tests to pass, the feature added, and the work done. Why? Not sure. I guess to go on to the next task?
Writing code unassisted now feels so slow and takes more energy. It’s hard to justify. I find myself manually coding less and less. And it’s much harder to find that happy state when I go.
But maybe it’s healthy to do now and then? Like choosing to walk for 15 minutes when you could just drive for 2.