Reading the comments the author is basically "one with ai" where his life is deeply integrated with ai agents.
I have a friend exactly like that. And he has being doing it so long that he cannot even respond to a discord without asking AI "what do you think? what should I say? what do you think they mean?"
Full NPC mode, and it's really sad and scary.
You lose the ability to think. You lose all differentiation.
While I agree with your point that it's sometimes about getting things done, but your example is flawed. Your example about gas-powered street lights is arguing for technology evolution. But the people who say "AI have take the fun out of programming" are fighting for craftsmanship and love.
Nobody ever found craftsmanship or pleasure out of lighting up gas-powered street lights. But there are a lot of programmers that value "doing" programming because it's their craft or art-form.
I have never had a programming job. But I program all day to serve my customers for the products I created. Because it's my art-form. I love "doing" it (my way!).
It will get done. I just want to be the person to do it.
I have charged clients first before I start. Most in full, some in part.
The question "why would they trust me to deliver?" is a good one. And there are two answers:
1. How you sell will determine their trust level. In my sales deck, I have testimonials, case studies and the outline of our full process. By the end of the presentation, when I tell them the price, they expected $10,000, but it's only $4,000. I ask them to pay the 4k now. Or, pay 2 payments of $2,500.
2. If the prospect asks us to do ALL the work first, then invoice, I say the following: "if we do all the work first, it means that you have no skin in the game. In the past, that hurt my business because people would disappear after my team spent 300 hours working. For that reason, it's not our policy to do all the work first. We have 2 options."
Then, i end off by saying: "if that's a deal breaker, I understand and I will happy send you the plan for what you should do next if you want to go at it without our help"
source?