The latest articles on DEV Community by Oleksandr Savchenko (@oleksandr_savchenko_f6159). https://dev.to/oleksandr_savchenko_f6159 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3808079%2Fe0d4338b-f26e-44c4-bcf7-ad0521504db2.png https://dev.to/oleksandr_savchenko_f6159 en Oleksandr Savchenko Thu, 05 Mar 2026 13:59:50 +0000 https://dev.to/oleksandr_savchenko_f6159/i-got-laid-off-as-a-developer-because-of-ai-so-i-tried-building-an-app-with-ai-to-see-what-would-2bae https://dev.to/oleksandr_savchenko_f6159/i-got-laid-off-as-a-developer-because-of-ai-so-i-tried-building-an-app-with-ai-to-see-what-would-2bae <p>A few months ago I got laid off from my developer job.<br> Part of the reason (not the only one, but definitely part of it) was AI. The company started experimenting with AI tools and reducing the need for additional developers.</p> <p>After that happened I kept thinking about one question:<br> Is AI actually replacing developers, or just changing how we work?<br> So I decided to test it myself.</p> <p>I challenged myself to build and ship an iOS app using AI as a development assistant.<br> Nothing extreme - just evenings after work, usually about 1–2 hours a day.<br> It took about 8 weeks to finish.</p> <p>The app I ended up building is called Lumio.<br> It’s basically a small daily routine app with affirmations, horoscope, and sleep sounds.<br> Nothing groundbreaking. I just wanted something people might open every day.</p> <p>AI helped a lot with certain parts of development:<br> • setting up project structure<br> • generating repetitive Swift code patterns<br> • organizing content categories<br> • drafting some App Store copy</p> <p>In terms of raw development time, it probably saved 20–30%.<br> But the interesting thing is that the hardest parts had nothing to do with code.</p> <p>The real challenges were things like:<br> • figuring out what the product should actually be<br> • designing onboarding that people won’t instantly skip<br> • deciding when notifications should appear to build a habit instead of annoying users<br> • fixing edge cases in AI-generated code</p> <p>AI made development faster.<br> But it didn’t replace product thinking.<br> And honestly, most of the difficult decisions were still human ones.</p> <p>The app launched recently, so it’s way too early to say if it will succeed or fail.</p> <p>Right now I’m mostly curious about what happens next - downloads, retention, marketing experiments, all of it.</p> <p>If people are interested, I can share updates about what works and what doesn’t.</p>