The CoPilot Productivity Paradox
4 days ago
- #Programming
- #CoPilot
- #Productivity
- CoPilot plugin for IntelliJ initially seemed useful but was eventually disabled due to reduced productivity and increased frustration.
- CoPilot excels at speeding up monotonous tasks like code transformations but often provides distracting or unhelpful suggestions.
- Evaluating CoPilot's suggestions consumes mental bandwidth, leading to mental model thrashing and exhaustion.
- Non-deterministic suggestions and processing delays disrupt muscle memory and immediate feedback in the coding workflow.
- Fixing half-correct suggestions can be as time-consuming as writing the code correctly from scratch.
- LLM suggestions as a drop-in replacement for classic IDE suggestions are inefficient for both the LLM and the programmer.
- Improving typing speed or mastering editor features like vim motions can enhance productivity without mental overhead.
- LLMs work better as a separate chat interface for explicit context control rather than integrated into the editor.
- CoPilot is more beneficial when working with unfamiliar languages, where expert-level understanding is lacking.
- The author's perspective is based on over two decades of programming experience, and results may vary for others.