AI isn’t going to replace software developers, it’s going to make the job fun and feasible again.

Early in my career, I could build useful products and solutions with five technologies. Today it’s 15-20+.

I could become an expert on those core five things. I could feel like a craftsman who masters his toolbox.

Today, the technology is more complicated and there is more of it. It changes fast, and when you move to a new project it takes more time to find your footing.

For me, it got to where it wasn’t fun. I was spending too much time learning and not enough time delivering value.

AI has been a game changer in this regard.

Here’s an example. I’m an expert at writing very complex SQL queries. I found complex queries hard to do and learn in Entity Framework and LINQ. Stopping to learn the really advanced stuff never felt like a good use of time.

With AI, I can write something in SQL (or take a stored procedure) and ask how to do this in Entity Framework. Three seconds later, I have an answer and direction.

Problems or techniques that took me days or weeks to solve now take an hour.

That’s one example, but there are dozens from the past year. Spanning a wide range of technologies.

The program I spent the last year building would have taken several years without AI, and it would have had less polish and more gaps.

Even when I got into management, I never quit coding. I’ve always kept projects to work on and learn from.

But now it’s fun again.