These days when I open a blog or news article, or I watch a Youtube video, all I see is how good AI is getting, and how everyone is building awesome things with it. How you MUST be using the latest model if you want to be or continue in the vanguard of your craft.
How everyone else is falling behind.
I have been a professional developer for just over 3 years now, but I have been working in tech and programming things double that period.
I am not a CS grad, and I’ve never done a programming bootcamp. I learned everything I know, and continue to learn, from books, online courses, tutorials, articles, community discussions, and a hell lot of practice. For someone like me, who already feels at a disadvantage because I didn’t follow the traditional learning path, the general AI feeling is scary.
And it’s scary because I don’t like using coding agents. I have been using Claude for many months now, and I can’t deny it’s an amazing tool, but I know I am not taking full advantage of its capabilities.
Here’s the thing, I got into software development because it was fun and challenging (yeah, programming can be fun, at least if you use vim).
But where is the fun talking to an agent and vibe code a project that you probably don’t fully understand?
I get that you will increase your productivity levels a lot, but at the end of the day, where do you get the satisfaction from? I haven’t found an answer yet.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many things where an AI agent is useful.
For example, as a solo developer, one of the things I use Claude for is to review my idea to solve a client’s problem, assess if it meets the requirements or specification of the contract, and discuss other possible solutions.
A nice discussion there is absolutely acceptable, it’s just like talking to another experienced developer.
Another place where Claude has been quite useful is in code reviews. Having another pair of eyes (or bits) scanning my code and commenting on where I can improve or be more efficient? Yes please.
And I must say I have learned some very interesting things in these reviews.
But actually coding the project or feature? Leave the fun part for me please.