How are you using AI and what sort of software are you building?

I have similar years experience and regularly try out AI for development but always find it’s slower for the things I want to build and/or that it produces less than satisfactory results.

Not sure if it’s how I use the models (I’ve experimented with all the frontier ones), or the types of things I’m building, or the languages I’m using, or if I’m not spending enough, or if it’s just my standards are too high for the code that is produced but I usually always end up going back to doing things by hand.

I try to keep the AI focused on small well defined tasks, use AGENT.MD and skills, build out a plan first, followed by tests for spec based development, keep context windows and chats a reasonable length etc, but if I add up all that time I could have done it myself and have better grasp of the program and the domain in the process.

I keep reading how AI is a force multiplier but I’m yet to see it play out for myself.

I see lots of posts talking about how much more productive AI has made people, but very few with actual specifics on setup, models, costs, workflows etc.

I’m not an AI doomer and would love to realize the benefits people are claiming they get.... but how to get there is the question

▲

kukkeliskuu 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

For me, it has gone through stages.

Initially I was astounded by the results.

Then I wrote a large feature (ad pacing) on a site using LLMs. I learned the LLMs did not really understand what they were doing. The algorithm (PID controller) itself was properly implemented (as there is plenty of data to train on), but it was trying to optimize the wrong thing. There were other similar findings where LLM was doing very stupid mistakes. So I went through a disillusionment stage and kind of gave up for a while.

Since then, I have learned how to use Claude Code effectively. I have used it mostly on existing Django code bases. I think everybody has a slightly different take on how it works well. Probably the most reasonable advice is to just keep going and try different kind of things. Existing code bases seem easier, as well as working on a spec beforehand, requiring tests etc. basic SWE principles.

▲

imron 4 hours ago | parent [-]

> I have learned how to use Claude Code effectively

This is step 3 of “draw the rest of the owl” :-)

> the most reasonable advice is to just keep going and try different kind of things.

This is where I’ve been at for a while now. Every couple of months I try again with latest models and latest techniques I hear people talking about but there’s very little concrete info there that works for me.

Then I wonder if it’s just my spend? I don’t mind spending $30/month to experiment but I’m not going to drop $300/month unless I can see evidence that it’ll be worth it, which I haven’t really seen, but maybe there’s a dependency and you don’t get the result without increased spend?

Some posts I’ve seen claim spending of $1,500/month, which would be worth it if it could increase productivity enough, but there’s very few specifics on workflows and results.

▲

LouisSayers 4 hours ago | parent [-]

You can achieve a lot on the $30 plan.

I use Claude every day for everything, it's amazing value for money.

Give it a specific task with the context it needs, that's what I find works well, then iterate from there. I just copy paste, nothing fancy.

	▲	hawk_ an hour ago \| parent [-]
		You just copy paste as in you copy paste all the necessary context and the results. You don't give it access to your codebase for read or write, correct?

▲

jstummbillig 26 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I am guessing: Maybe you are not used to or comfortable with delegating work?

You will certainly understand a program better where you write every line of code yourself, but that limits your output. It's a trade-off.

The part that makes it work quite well is that you can also use the LLM to better understand the code where required, simply by asking.

	▲	brailsafe 16 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> I am guessing: Maybe you are not used to or comfortable with delegating work? The difference between delegating to a human vs an LLM is that a human is liable for understanding it, regardless of how it got there. Delegating to an LLM means you're just more rapidly creating liabilities for yourself, which indeed is a worthwhile tradeoff depending on the complexity of what you're losing intimate knowledge of.

▲

rkuodys an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I am honestly curious about your point on productivity boost. Are you saying that you can write tests at the same speed as AI can? Or is it the point that tests written by AI is of much lower quality that is not worth using them? I am at the role of solo-preneur now and I see a lot of benefit from AI. But then I read posts like yours that experienced devs don't see much value in AI and I start to doubt the things I do. Are they bad quality(possibly) or is it something else going on.