Ask HN: Should Developers Shift from Coding to Architecture in the LLM Era?
If LLMs can generate repetitive code, does our value shift toward system design, trade-offs, and problem framing?
5 comments
In my experience, the value doesn’t really shift from “coding” to “architecture” — it shifts toward understanding constraints.
On platforms like macOS, a lot of architectural decisions aren’t about clean abstractions but about what the system actually allows you to do (WindowServer rules, accessibility APIs, focus behavior, sandboxing). LLMs can generate plausible code, but they don’t feel where the platform pushes back.
The hard part is still knowing which designs will collapse once they meet real OS behavior, not writing the glue code itself.
On platforms like macOS, a lot of architectural decisions aren’t about clean abstractions but about what the system actually allows you to do (WindowServer rules, accessibility APIs, focus behavior, sandboxing). LLMs can generate plausible code, but they don’t feel where the platform pushes back.
The hard part is still knowing which designs will collapse once they meet real OS behavior, not writing the glue code itself.
You should be doing architecture regardless of LLMs.
So should our programming languages shift to express architecture?
https://objective.st/
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689492.3690052
https://objective.st/
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689492.3690052
It does make sense to shift focus on Architecture, but you also need people who are able accept that design. It takes a lot of people to agree on something in an enterprise context.
> generate repetitive code
Neither LLMs nor people should be doing that.
Neither LLMs nor people should be doing that.