My AI Journey

Over the past couple of years, AI has quietly become one of the most valuable tools in my development toolkit. What started with simple autocomplete suggestions has evolved into something I use daily for learning, problem-solving, and getting more done.

This isn't a story about AI replacing developers or some revolutionary breakthrough moment. It's just my honest experience of how these tools have changed the way I work, and why I think they're worth considering if you haven't tried them yet.

AI as My Coding Sparring Partner

The most valuable way I use AI (and this might resonate with you) is as a sparring partner when I'm stuck. Instead of immediately bothering a colleague who might be deep in their own work, I can bounce ideas off AI first. I can pitch half-formed thoughts, ask "what if" questions, and iterate through solutions without feeling like I'm wasting someone's time.

God, I remember those StackOverflow days. You know the ones... spending hours scrolling through threads, only to find answers that were either outdated or didn't quite fit your specific situation. The frustration was real. Now with AI, I get quick responses that I can actually have a conversation with. The answers aren't always perfect (neither were StackOverflow answers, let's be real), but here's the key difference: I can iterate. I can ask follow-up questions, provide more context, even link current documentation. It's like having a patient colleague who never gets tired of my questions.

This approach recently saved my sanity when I was wrestling with a particularly nasty bug. Instead of getting stuck in analysis paralysis, I could talk through the problem with AI, explore different angles, and actually make progress. That's gold for someone like me.

AI as My Learning Accelerator

The other game-changer? Using AI as a learning tool. As you might remember from my last post, I've been diving into game development with Godot. While I'm comfortable with web development, game dev is relatively new territory for me, and Godot's ecosystem felt overwhelming at first.

My initial plan was to work through the documentation methodically. But to be honest, it felt like drinking from a fire hose... too much information, not enough practical application. So I tried a different approach: I asked AI for a simple character movement script in GDScript. Within seconds, I had working code that I could actually run, tinker with, and understand through experimentation.

This is how I've always learned best, even before AI existed. I'm much more effective when I can start with working code and figure out what makes it tick, rather than trying to absorb theoretical concepts first. I'm not the type who needs to understand every underlying mechanism. I just need to know enough to build things and solve problems. And sometimes I still fail, which is perfectly okay. AI helps me fail faster and learn from those failures more efficiently.

My AI Tooling

I've tried a lot of AI tools, and my preferences have evolved quite a bit.

ChatGPT started feeling too much like a "yes man" for my taste. It would agree with everything I said rather than challenging my thinking, which isn't what I needed from a sparring partner.

Then I discovered Cursor , which I still use as my main code editor. The integration is seamless... great code completion, useful AI agents, and access to multiple models right in my coding environment. It's become an essential part of my daily workflow.

But for deeper conversations and research, I've settled on Claude . What won me over was the ability to define context for our chats and its research mode that can pull in current web information. Plus, Claude can read links directly, which is incredibly useful when I want to reference specific documentation or articles. When I'm working through complex problems or need to understand new concepts, this is where I turn.

(And no, this isn't a sponsored post, just sharing what's actually working for me.)

About AI Bashing

Okay, I need to get something off my chest. If you've been on LinkedIn or social platform lately, you've probably seen the AI bashing going on. Software engineers calling out other engineers for using AI, saying shit like "you're not a real developer if you use AI" or "I tried it once and it made me less productive because I had to fix everything."

Look, I get being skeptical. But this defensive BS is getting old.

Here's the thing: if AI isn't making you more productive, you're probably prompting it wrong. It's like saying "I tried using Google and it sucked" when you were searching for "red thing that goes fast" instead of "Ferrari 488 GTB specifications." The tool isn't the problem... how you're using it is.

But hey, maybe you gave it an honest shot and it still doesn't click for you. That's totally fine! Different tools work for different people. What's not fine is looking down on others and dismissing their success just because your experience was different. Just because something doesn't work for you doesn't mean other people are lying when they say it transformed their workflow.

AI isn't going to replace software engineers. That's not what this is about. But dismissing it entirely because you're afraid of looking less competent? That's just shooting yourself in the foot. The developers who figure out how to work with AI effectively are going to be more productive, learn faster, and frankly, have more fun coding.

And for those who get all defensive when someone suggests trying AI... maybe ask yourself why that suggestion bothers you so much. Because I promise you, the people effectively using AI aren't trying to replace you. We're just trying to get more shit done in less time so we can focus on the interesting problems.

AI is Here to Stay

Here's what I've realized: AI hasn't replaced my need to think or learn... it's amplified both. I'm asking better questions, exploring ideas I might have been too intimidated to pursue, and iterating through solutions faster than ever before. It's like having a patient mentor who's available 24/7 and never judges my "stupid" questions.

The technology is moving incredibly fast, and honestly, that used to stress me out. But now I see it as an opportunity to stay curious, keep experimenting, and continue growing. In a field that changes as rapidly as frontend development, having AI as a learning partner feels like a superpower.

Look, if you're skeptical about AI, I get it. I was there too. But here's the thing: you don't have to dive in head-first or change your entire workflow overnight. Next time you're genuinely stuck on something, instead of opening another StackOverflow tab, try asking an AI tool one simple question. See what happens. The worst case? You waste five minutes. The best case? You might just rediscover why you fell in love with coding in the first place.