How Much Are LLMs Actually Boosting Real-World Programmer Productivity? (Ruthenis, 2025)

Metadata

• Author: Thane Ruthenis
• Full Title: How Much Are LLMs Actually Boosting Real-World Programmer Productivity?
• Category: #articles
• Summary: LLM-based coding tools claim to boost programmer productivity significantly, but many developers report mixed results. While some power users might see improvements, there's little evidence of widespread productivity gains in the software industry. Overall, LLMs may help with minor tasks, but their impact on creating substantial, useful software appears limited.
• URL: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tqmQTezvXGFmfSe7f/how-much-are-llms-actually-boosting-real-world-programmer?utm_source=tldrwebdev

Highlights

• Many developers have been reporting that this is dramatically increasing their productivity, up to 5x'ing/10x'ing it. (View Highlight)
• reasonable to assume that a 5x/10x greater output, if it exists, is unevenly distributed, mostly affecting power users/peopl (View Highlight)
• What's the real-world impact? (View Highlight)