Well, hello there! Haven't posted anything in a while.
One thing that has been on my mind is how my workflow changed over the last couple of months. I am a building software guy. I love building useful working software. I get the enjoyment from building stuff brick by brick and seeing how it comes to life. Before, I used to dive deep into a project, and just code, code and code relentlessly, marvelling at the process of how something comes from nothing. The process of coding gave me enjoyment too. Which building blocks can I come up with? Can I improve the blocks already there? Can I come up with doing things in a way that looks and feels more pleasant in code? Fun!
However, something changed when LLMs entered the scenes. Well, not even LLMs, but coding assistants like cursor (or avante.nvim if you are a vim gigachad). "I can build stuff... using less energy and effort per code block?" - were my thoughts. The situation is getting more extreme right now with the appearance of various CLI coding agents. Claude Code, Opencode, Gemini CLI, OpenAI Codex, and others. They bring me even closer to the fantasy of building more interesting stuff in less time/effort.
Right now, I work more on prototypes and new projects in my company. Maybe it affects my experience in a significant way. However, the LLM assisted workflow allows me to build working features for such projects much faster than I would be able myself. I want a google sheets based input and notification feedback system? Sure, day of work. After trying it out, it isn't as good as envisioned? Whatever, a couple of hours and I can build a UI based alternative that works. Well, you are afraid I can break something with this AI based approach? Not a problem, couple of hours and you get a comprehensive UI test suite with real DBs, real browser which tests the workflow and the database state.
Code became disposable, you design software in a way that makes it easier to understand for people AND AI. So the decades old mantra of "you write code for other developers to read" is now getting obsolete.
Of course, if you want the best possible quality, you need to code it yourself by hand. LLMs are not great in performance, architecture and good structure. Beware! I tried to give the AI assistant full reins once, and the resulting code was atrocious. You, as an expert, should keep track of that beast and point it in the right direction. Do not fall into the trap of giving up control. Your knowledge and experience is valuable, use it to your fullest advantage.
AI assisted development is now here for a while. Is that good? Bad? Don't know, but it sure is fun as hell for builders.