The last few months have completely reshaped how I think about building software.

From Curiosity to Productivity

It started with small experiments in Visual Studio Code using agent mode. At first, I saw it as a fun way to automate routine coding tasks. But once I learned how to write effective prompts and create detailed playbooks, things started to change. The results got a whole lot more interesting.

Discovering Better Tools

That led me to Cursor. Their AI integration felt smoother and more intuitive than what I had seen in VS Code. My productivity improved. Not dramatically, but noticeably. Then came a downside: a rogue background agent ignored spending limits and racked up over $300 in a single night. Not ideal.

So I kept exploring.

The Claude Code Shift

Next up was Claude Code. I was skeptical. A CLI tool? Really? But after giving it a serious try, the productivity gains were undeniable. Going from Cursor to Claude felt less like a step and more like a leap.

Real Results, Fast

At work, we’ve had an old ETL pipeline that everyone hates. Overengineered, clunky, hard to maintain. Tonight I decided to rewrite it from scratch. Three hours later, I had 12,000 lines of clean Python and nearly full test coverage.

Last weekend, I picked up a startup idea from a friend and decided to run with it. Ten hours later, I had a working SaaS prototype with 15,000 lines of React and TypeScript. And the quality? Frankly better than a lot of production code I’ve seen over the past decade.

From Skeptic to True Believer

I used to be an AI skeptic. Then I saw it as a useful assistant. Now I’m all in.

What This Means for Software

We are entering a new era of software development. In many cases, it is faster, cheaper, and more effective to rebuild from scratch than to patch and refactor legacy systems.

Our development practices need to adapt. It is no longer about writing code that impresses other developers. It is about writing code that an AI can understand, reason about, and build upon.

Forget perfection. Focus on clarity.

The Bigger Picture

The game has changed. And it's only just beginning.

To me, this shift feels as big as the birth of the internet. Maybe even bigger.