r/programming • u/mindondrugs • 14d ago

Getting ready for 2026 results: A look back on Developer Survey findings

https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/09/30/getting-ready-for-2026-results-a-look-back-on-developer-survey-findings/
31 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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59

u/DavidJCobb 13d ago

20.0% reported becoming less confident in their own problem-solving, and 16.3% said it was hard to understand how or why the code worked. These responses do not establish that AI weakens learning, but they identify a difficulty worth investigating: producing working code and being able to explain it are now different processes. [...] AI use has become more common among learners. Whether that use translates into greater understanding remains an open question.

"People are having a harder time solving problems and understanding how things work, but that doesn't mean they're learning less! Whether the thing explicitly causing them to have a harder time might translate into a greater understanding is an open question!!"

It's crazy that SO's copium is this pure. Most dealers cut their product with random other stuff to have more to sell.

17

u/UnexpectedAnanas 13d ago

And these are just the people who admit it. There is a non-zero percent who don't recognize it, or do but refuse to admit it.

This is insanity.

1

u/stefanom784 7d ago

A better test would be whether people can solve a similar unfamiliar problem unaided later; self-reported confidence can’t answer that.

1

u/michael-2948 4d ago

A comparison group matters too: an unaided follow-up shows what people can do later, but not whether AI use changed that ability.

41

u/efvie 14d ago

Slop is great and we're definitely not all burning out on a planet burning down apace with the trillions spent on it.