I’m coding with AI, and sometimes I have to reverse-engineer my own code

I’m coding with AI, and sometimes I have to reverse-engineer my own code

Let’s be honest for a moment.

Today, AI is already part of many developers’ daily workflow. Not in some hypothetical future. Right now.

I use it too.

I describe an intention, a structure, a problem to solve. In return, it generates blocks of code that are clear, functional, sometimes even elegant.

It’s impressive. And above all, it’s fast.

Sometimes too fast.

So fast that I find myself doing something I never imagined a few years ago:

reverse-engineering my own code.

Moving fast, understanding more slowly

The generated code is not bad. Quite the opposite.

But it arrives fully formed, all at once, without the hesitation, the trials, the detours that used to build my understanding along the way.

Before, understanding was part of the journey.

Now, understanding sometimes becomes a step that comes after.

I have to slow myself down on purpose.

Read. Break things apart. Verify.

Regain control over something I explicitly asked for.

I often picture it like this:

I’m moving forward on a sled pulled by AI. The speed is exhilarating, but if I let go of the reins for too long, I lose track of what’s actually happening beneath my feet.

Are there still purists?

I sometimes wonder about that.

Are there still developers who write everything by hand, without ever relying on AI?

Maybe.

But is that still the norm, or has it become more of a posture?

Because we can debate endlessly, but the reality is simple:

AI is here to stay.

And it is an incredibly powerful tool for writing code.

The real question is probably not whether we should use it, but how we use it without losing our understanding, our judgment, our responsibility.

I write less code. I still love it just as much.

This is what surprised me the most.

I write less code than I used to. Yet I haven’t lost the passion.

It forced me to rethink what I actually enjoy about this craft.

Maybe it was never about typing every line, but about understanding a system, shaping an idea, turning something fuzzy into something coherent.

And that, AI doesn’t do for me.

An open question

I thought I loved writing code.

But now that AI writes a large part of it for me, I realize I still love developing just as much.

So I’m asking myself, and I’m asking you:

What do you really enjoy about coding?

How do you use AI without losing control over what you build?

Do you recognize this need to reread, and sometimes dissect, your own generated code?

Curious to read your experiences.

Comments

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Curious how others experience this.
Do you feel more productive with AI, or more disconnected from your code sometimes?