It's everywhere, it's eating up every other dev topic debate: learn to dev with AI or you'll be replaced. As a dev, I can't help but feel threatene...
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That is very well written and I couldn't agree more.
The hype is structural in the VC-backed tech industry
The reason skeptics are being dismissed is pretty clear too
It is difficult to get a man to understand something,
when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
-- Upton Sinclair
And just as I was reading your post. This was right below it on my DEV feed.
:/
When I am coding and in the zone, my brain is like a house of cards. To finish a complex thought, I need silence and focus. The problem with AI tools is that they are so unpredictable. Every time an autocomplete pops up, I am interrupted and have to evaluate: “Is this really what I want?” — and this disturbs my thinking so much that I still sometimes prefer to code with all AI turned off.
The same goes for prompting: it can derail me because I prompt, and then I need so much of my brain to review the too good-looking result. It takes me an hour to get into the zone and just minutes to be thrown out of it. And AI tools often do that. It’s like having a coworker sitting next to you with their own ideas and uncomfortable questions. Sometimes it helps, but often it doesn’t.
On the other hand, it can be powerful, and there are things I’ve found work really well. So I do use it a lot, and it brings me big productivity gains.
And yes, I would prefer to have these gains with smaller local tools instead of being dependent.
In the end, I guess the amount of time I spend tooling, playing around, and trying to keep up to date on this topic is equal to what it saves me. 😂
The “dev with AI or die” mantra misses a deeper truth: technology rarely kills craft, it reshapes it. Painters didn’t vanish with the camera. Writers didn’t vanish with the typewriter. Developers won’t vanish with AI, they’ll just be judged by what new things they BUILD because of it.
Well, I understand we must not be the film camera shop owner that blindly refuse to see the market. But there's one narative that's pushed way to hard indeed.
I really liked your article, especially the part about lockin. It’s an aspect that often gets overlooked, the more we use centralized llms, the more we become dependent on the token dealer, and the harder it becomes to break free.
That said, I firmly believe that "learn to use AI or die." Personally, I believe anyone who thinks otherwise is either categorically refusing to use it or is using it incorrectly.
You shouldn’t be writing code anymore, that’s no longer our job. Our job today has moved up a level, to something with much higher value, much closer to technical leadership.
We need to grow as architects, as testers, as creators of documentation. We need to learn how to define context, set boundaries, build memory banks, craft system instructions, and above all, in security.
Think of it as leveling up: imagine becoming a team lead who’s given a group of devs with great potential but zero knowledge of your business domain. You need to learn how to train them to deliver what you want. You need to build your team and learn how to manage it.
Start treating AI as a team to manage, not as a tool to use.
Many people don't. And that's why when you're one-sided and see the instant results of AI coding, you're more than happy. This is the TikTok movement of coding. Pull the lever, and something appears. Something is code that may work. And if it doesn't, then you'll have to pull the lever again. There's some clever mind engineering done here.
Totally agree that intelectual laziness is a huge trap here. Many people seems to be content with "less intelectual load, no matter if it's actually longer". There's indeed a junkfood/TikTok/sedentarity metaphor or something along those line.
Very good post!
Three weeks ago, I decided to stop using AI assistants daily for coding. I realized they were making me feel lazy, unmotivated, and even sleepy like running on autopilot, producing bad intentions and bad code.
I truly enjoy automating my work, but only to handle repetitive tasks so I can focus my energy on the logic and creative parts. After just four days of “detox” from LLMs and AI assistants, everything became clear again, and my brain returned to its natural way of thinking.
Yeah I think that LLM disconnection will become a habit to. Too easy and tempting to go for it by sheer laziness. But that's another topic...
I think (as you kinda mentioned) at the end of the day, this is all just about money. How many people can we scare into buying some large number of tokens for an LLM because they think they need it? How many new developers can we make believe that LLMs are the greatest thing since sliced bread?
I'm really tired of the anxiety-driven narratives around AI.
To me, AI is just a tool that helps me explain mistakes and restructure small pieces of code. It doesn't replace my thinking.
I primarily use ChatGOT to handle these minor tasks, allowing me to break free from some of the little chores. That feeling is quite refreshing.
I like this AND there are many voices:
AI is for sure getting better and cheaper from the H/W to the opensource models and agents mentioned.
I think of this as an awesome opportunity for the little guys to run fast and out-execute the big guys.
I find the challenge is in not worrying "too too" much about mankind our nature(we're nature too) is the challenge. Will AI help, hurt, or both? I expect both like most of our powerful inventions.
I appreciate your post. And thank you for nudging me to write down my current thoughts.
All the best to everyone in this community!
It's nice to see a long elaborated post, which doesn't seem to be written by AI at all. :)
Thanks! To be fair, it's all written by hands but I had AI to correct English and then roast/criticize it. The first version was too generic claims without data, while I wanted to be more about personal experience and pinpointed that perfectly. But in the end yep I chose every letter 😊
I’ve been experimenting with AI tools like Cursor and Claude Code daily, and I agree — the ‘dev with AI or die’ narrative feels overhyped. The real value comes from carefully testing what actually saves time, rather than blindly following trends. I especially like your point about small, hacky teams being able to outperform with clever, targeted automation. It reminds me that AI should complement developers, not replace the critical thinking and creativity that only humans bring.
Well said my friend!
This is a very thoughtful article and really resonates with my mind. It was a great read!
Thank you!
congrats for your 100 likes!
🤯
good share
AI is for finding code snippets and doing code ports or code optimization. I read through the article and couldn't figure out the need for tokens when copilot and deepseek do these tasks for free.
Great. Thanks
yes，you are good