AI-assisted development is incredible. Tools like Claude, Copilot and Warp are helping us to move faster, reduce friction and understand complex systems more easily.
In an increasing number of teams using them isn’t optional, it’s expected. The results speak for themselves. Productivity is up. Delivery is faster. Barriers are lower.
But there’s a trade-off I don’t see discussed enough - Coding is starting to feel different. What was a craft is now a process:
Plan → Refine → Generate → Review → Adjust → Generate Commit message → AI-Assisted Peer Review → Ship
There’s less time spent exploring the problem space. Less trial and error. Less of that moment where a solution finally “clicks” - for me, the best bit!
It reminds me of the flat-pack furniture you get from Ikea. AI gives you all the pieces and instructions and then it'll even assembly it for you (like Airtasker or Task Rabbit). But it’s not quite the same as designing and building something yourself.
So where does that leave the craft of software engineering? Will thoughtful system design, elegant code, and carefully crafted user experiences become the “handmade furniture” of our industry? will it be more rare, but more valuable?
I don’t think the answer is to stop using AI. But I do think we need to be intentional about how we use it. Because if we outsource too much of the thinking, we risk losing not just skills - but the joy that brought many of us into this field.
And yes—this post was (appropriately) co-written with AI.
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