Every day I see posts where people claim they barely code anymore or that in a few months most production code will be vibe-coded.
Not only on dev.to, but also on Reddit, X and LinkedIn.
My experience looks very different.
In hobby projects, maybe 75% of my code is AI-generated.
At work, I am still coding a lot, I think that there is like 25% code generated by AI.
Don’t get me wrong, AI has definitely changed how I work. Whether it’s a hobby project or a sprint at the office, my workflow isn't the same as it was a year ago. However, many of the current predictions still feel heavily 'AI-hyped' compared to the boots-on-the-ground reality of software engineering.
The difference becomes especially clear when comparing legacy systems with modern codebases.
Older Codebases
We maintain several older solutions built on .NET Framework. Honestly, some parts are a mess. I’ve cursed the original authors many times.
In these systems, I rarely use AI for new features because it simply isn’t very helpful.
The problems are familiar to anyone working with legacy software:
- inconsistent architecture
- missing context
- hidden dependencies
- business rules scattered across the codebase
Even developers who have worked on these systems for 10+ years are sometimes afraid to touch certain areas. In this environment, AI struggles because understanding the system matters more than generating syntax.
Newer Codebases
In newer projects that follow good standards and clearer architecture, AI becomes much more useful.
Here is where I actually use it regularly:
- generating SQL (PostgreSQL functions, tables, indexes)
- creating unit test drafts for backend and frontend
- generating boilerplate code from prompts we keep inside the repository
- discussing performance ideas or refactoring options
However, for complex business features, I still write most of the code myself. Many tasks are too domain-specific to describe well in a prompt.
My Question to the Community
I’m interested in how AI is used in production environments, not demos or hobby projects, but daily engineering work.
- Which AI coding assistant do you use most often? Do you combine multiple tools?
- Roughly how much of your production code is AI-generated?
- Does AI help equally in legacy and modern codebases for you?
Maybe I’m behind the trend or maybe real-world usage simply looks different from online predictions.
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