I recently tested out a few AI code generation tools. At first, I was impressed—they really do save time on boilerplate and repetitive tasks. But after using them for a week, I noticed something strange: I was writing less code… but also thinking less deeply about how my systems were structured.
It made me wonder: If AI takes over too much of the “grunt work,” will developers risk losing their edge in problem-solving and creativity?
Do you see AI as a tool to enhance developer skills, or is there a danger of it making us too dependent?
Top comments (1)
I’ve always felt the opposite, honestly. AI doesn’t drag me deeper into the weeds — it pulls me out of them. Instead of combing through docs (again) just to remember how to stream and group another random list in whatever the latest Java flavor is, I get to stay in the big picture: systems, communication, scaling.
Last sprint alone, I wrapped up more random proposals (and even a couple of spare ADRs) than I’ve managed in ages. And it’s not that I’m magically faster — truth is, working with AI almost always takes longer. The difference is where my time goes. While Copilot is sweating over yet another hash-set puzzle, I’m off reimagining the Liquibase solution into something that doesn’t completely suck 😂