A person who does not know how software works will still struggle. They may not know what to ask, what is wrong, or how to tell whether the result is good.

But for a decent engineer who has already built real systems, I think the situation is very different. They can move across domains, ask the right questions, inspect what the agent is doing, and keep pushing until the system works.

They may take more steps than a senior engineer who already knows that domain well, but I do not think that gap is very large anymore. The important part seems to be knowing what to ask, what to check, and what you are actually trying to build.

I have been an engineer for years. At this point, I do not see much value in sitting alone and building more projects just to prove that I can build software.

That has also changed how I look at the past eight months. I spent that time building, learning, and trying to get better. Looking back now, much of it feels like time spent getting better at a problem that has already been solved.

And so I have come to a harsher conclusion: I wasted a lot of that time. What I have done feels bad, and I do not see what is left for me to do in this direction.

Maybe I am completely wrong. If I am, please feel free to roast this argument. I would genuinely like to know where the reasoning breaks.