> not a professional software engineer

I think this is where we might have differing opinions. I'm a CTO by profession and I know what bad code is, so it is quite easy for me, based on my professional experience, point out when Claude generates bad code. And when you point it out, or ask it why it didn't take the correct/simpler approach - the response is always along the lines of "Oops, sorry!" or "You're absolutely right to question that..."