Never felt this behind as a programmer
Original excerpt
I've never felt this much behind as a programmer. The profession is being dramatically refactored as the bits contributed by the programmer are increasingly sparse and between. I have a sense that I could be 10X more powerful if I just properly string together what has become available over the last ~year and a failure to claim the boost feels decidedly like skill issue. There's a new programmable layer of abstraction to master (in addition to the usual layers below) involving agents, subagents, their prompts, contexts, memory, modes, permissions, tools, plugins, skills, hooks, MCP, LSP, slash commands, workflows, IDE integrations, and a need to build an all-encompassing mental model for…
Frequently asked questions
What is "Never felt this behind as a programmer" about?
This article by Andrej Karpathy is part of the Andrej Karpathy reading list on Burn 451, covering ai agents.
Who wrote "Never felt this behind as a programmer"?
This piece is part of the Andrej Karpathy vault on Burn 451, covering ai agents. The original author is attributed at the source link.
How can I read more content from Andrej Karpathy?
The complete Andrej Karpathy reading list is available at burn451.cloud/vault/karpathy. Each article includes an AI-generated summary so you can decide what to read in seconds. Connect the Burn 451 MCP server to Claude or Cursor to query all Andrej Karpathy articles as live AI context.
Can I use "Never felt this behind as a programmer" with Claude or Cursor?
Yes. Install the burn-mcp-server npm package and connect it to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cursor. Once connected, your AI can search and reference this article and the full Andrej Karpathy vault in real time — no manual copy-paste required.
37 more articles in this vault.
Import the full Andrej Karpathy vault to Burn 451 and build your own knowledge base.
Content attributed to the original author. Burn 451 curates publicly available writing as a reading index. For removal requests, contact @hawking520.