I learned a lot of what I know by banging my head against the wall.

Knowing these things might not really be needed going forward, but it was a good workout, and I'm grateful I got a chance to go through that even if it becomes largely unnecessary.

I learned a lot working with LLMs and successfully delivering ambitious projects I wouldn't even have approached before. However, whatever I learned with LLMs, I successfully forgot almost immediately.

Well said. I’ve often noticed how I have a huge tolerance for frustration and ability to persist compared to many people around me, and this is how I acquired these traits. They’ve turned out to be hugely useful, also beyond just coding. It’ll be a shame for our profession to lose them.

Interesting. I've always thought that it was the inverse — that the ability to work for long periods against a problem in search of a solution was what made a good programmer.

I’m sure it can go both ways. For young me, I always found the outcome itself and sense of accomplishment to be sufficient motivation to persevere. Perseverance itself was the trait I ended up fostering.