As a developer who’s been coding for 15+ years, I’ve recently shared my excitement about AI IDE's in general, and after trying a bunch of them my main editor for some time now is definitely Cursor.
Disclaimer: this is not a paid promotion (in fact I'm the one paying Cursor their Pro Plan), it's just my honest opinion on using it and my thoughts about the experience.
This AI powered code editor, built as a fork of Visual Studio Code, has transformed how I work, and I want to dive deeper into that on this article.
Here’s how I’ve been leveraging Cursor, why it feels like cheating, and why my foundational skills remain key.
Don't Be a Passenger, Take the Wheel
AI won’t drive the project for you. It’s fast, confident, and occasionally dead wrong. I've seen AI output go sideways a hundred different ways.
But with the right instincts, a bit of judgment and some cleanup, it becomes a serious asset (if you stay in control).
Know When to Step In
Cursor agent mode can refactor code impressively. But sometimes it loops endlessly, bloats logic, or misses the point entirely. I’ve tried all the usual fixes: better prompts, reframing the task, feeding it more files. Most of the time? It slows me down.
What works best: recognize when it’s off, stop the loop, fix it manually, finally hit the AI again with clearer intent. A small manual edit often saves more time than battling the prompt, and keeps things flowing.
Spot the Gaps It Can’t Fill
LLMs doesn’t know your architecture the way you do, or why a certain hack was necessary three sprints ago. I’ve seen it confidently suggest changes that would silently break core business logic.
If you know your system, you’ll catch these instantly. If you don’t, you risk shipping bugs the AI helped you write.
Clean Up the Hallucinations
Wrong API calls. Fabricated methods. Wild assumptions about project structure. They’re not rare. AI can sound convincing even when it’s totally wrong.
This is where experience matters most. I don’t trust the output blindly, I debug it, cross check it, and steer Cursor more effectively the next time around.
Why It Feels Like Cheating (If You’ve Got the Skills)
AI code editors can write code, suggest fixes, refactor functions, and answer project specific questions. Sounds great. But here’s the catch: all of that only becomes powerful in the hands of a developer who can tell good output from bad.
The “cheating” feeling doesn’t come from skipping the hard stuff. It comes from accelerating through it, because you can instantly spot when the AI is almost right, and know exactly how to fix it. That’s not bypassing the challenge. That’s using your experience as leverage.
Do it right, and speed of development starts to increase, like a lot. That’s when it starts to feel like cheating.
The Real Edge Is Still Experience
Cursor doesn’t replace your skills, it amplifies them. If you don’t already know what clean code looks like, what patterns to use, or how changes ripple through a system, AI won’t save you. It might even bury you deeper.
- Fluency in languages helps you spot subtle errors AI introduces.
- Design pattern knowledge lets you structure AI output into something maintainable.
- Software architecture awareness ensures your edits fit the big picture.
Without this, you're letting the AI take control while you guess what it’s doing, and that is not a good idea, trust me.
Long story short, Cursor isn’t building my apps. It’s helping me build them faster, cleaner, and with more focus, because I bring the judgment, context, and correction it lacks.
I spend less time rewriting boilerplate, more time refining architecture, reviewing logic, and keeping quality high.
The Future of Software Development
A lot of people are talking about completely replacing programmers, I don't see it, and to be totally honest I think most of those claims are bullshit.
New models aren't growing exponentially like all the AI companies are advertising. These announcements should be taken with caution. Most of the time, their objective is just to raise more VC money.
That said, we cannot deny that AI is here to stay and that many jobs, while not completely replaced, will change radically. I believe they will change in a good way: fewer repetitive or boring tasks, and more focused on solving challenging problems.
The future of software development isn’t man vs machine, it’s collaboration. Tools like Cursor are getting more powerful: inline chat, project wide edits, agent mode. But none of it replaces the craft. It just makes skilled developers with strong foundations even faster.
Learn the basics of the languages you use, learn about design patterns, learn software architecture.
AI isn't magic, but you can significantly increase productivity if you know what you're doing.
The future is now.
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