My New Achievement
Hello friends!
You know, I’ve always looked with a bit of envy at two categories of people. The first - those who can create things with their hands. You know, like carving a masterpiece from wood, building a house on their own, or at the very least, hanging wallpaper straight. I’m not very good at that, to be honest. My hands are as clumsy as they’ve always been, and there’s nothing to be done about it.
The second category - programmers. Those who sit and work their magic with code, and then bam! - they create something completely new, unique, something that didn’t exist before. That always fascinated me. And you’d think I should be in my element here. But no.
Until recently, I was one of those people who knew perfectly well how things should be done to make them good. But as soon as I imagined how much needed to be considered, how many pitfalls to avoid to get a truly quality product - that was it, my hands would drop. The rework would be put on the back burner, and I would continue to painfully look at those “old” services that were long overdue for retirement.
My New “Achievement” or How AI Changed the Game
And then they came on stage - modern helpers, that is, artificial intelligence. Over the past week, with their help, I managed to deploy two such services to production! Those very ones that were bothering me and causing terrible pain, but which I never tackled myself because, well, as I said, I’m too “simple” for such scale.
It used to be hellish work. And now? Write a prompt with basic functionality, outline what you want to get. A few iterations, a couple of clarifications - and here it is, a working prototype, already ready. And then - my favorite part: debugging. That’s where I really enjoy myself, fine-tuning the details to make everything work like clockwork. And then - straight to production!
This is just some kind of new “achievement” in my life. And it made me look at development differently as a whole.
AI in Development: Not a Replacement, but a Superpower
It used to seem that coding was about sitting and writing lines of code, then spending hours looking for bugs. Now AI tools take care of all that routine. They generate template code, analyze pieces of logic, and sometimes can even sketch out entire applications based on your description.
This doesn’t mean we programmers are no longer needed. Quite the opposite! AI frees up our hands and brains for much more interesting and important tasks:
- Thinking about architecture so the system doesn’t collapse under load
- Strengthening security because code vulnerabilities are always painful
- Making the user experience something people enjoy working with
The numbers, by the way, confirm my feelings. They say that with AI-generated code:
- Development cycles speed up by 55%
- Productivity jumps by 88%
- Confidence in code quality increases by 85%
- Repetitive tasks are completed 96% faster
My personal experience with two freshly launched services is living proof of this. What seemed impossible before is now quite real.
Imagine: GitHub Copilot generates a piece of code based on your request, or AI helps find a bug you’d be searching for hours. This isn’t fantasy, it’s already our reality.
A Spoonful of Tar and a New Skill
Of course, it’s not all rosy. For experienced folks like me (he-he), AI is a real boost. We know what to ask, how to check, and how to refine. But for beginners… Sometimes AI can generate such a monster that without good architectural understanding and experience, you can drown in “verbose, over-engineered, poorly working code.” So, you still need to learn, AI isn’t a magic wand, but rather a powerful tool that needs to be used properly.
And this, by the way, changes the very essence of “routine.” Now routine isn’t about mindlessly writing code, but rather “prompt engineering.” That is, you need to know how to properly set tasks for AI, manage this generation process, and then, most importantly, thoroughly check and refine what it produces. A new skill has emerged - “whispering to AI.” And that’s cool because it’s about thinking, not mechanical work.
From “Simple” to “Deployed to Production”
My story is essentially about how I transformed from “simple” to “deployed to production.” It’s a classic “Problem-Solution-Result” scheme that, as it turned out, works great for personal stories too:
- Problem: My envy of creators and pain from unfinished services that hung like dead weight
- Conflict: Feeling of inability to rewrite complex code and dropping hands at the thought of task scale
- Climax: Discovery of AI helpers and their successful application in real projects
- Resolution: Two services in production and my new “achievement” that made me feel cooler
I try to be as honest as possible when sharing such things. Admitting your “imperfections” and mistakes isn’t weakness, but rather a way to build trust. After all, there are no perfect people, but there are many more who are willing to learn and change. And that’s engaging.
So, AI for me isn’t just a tool. It’s a catalyst that fundamentally changes our work. It allows us to focus on what’s important, automate routine, and simply move forward faster. My recent experience is the best proof of this.
How about you? Has AI already changed your work or helped you deal with some long-standing problem? Share in the comments, I’m very interested!