I've always been a bit of an outsider, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I'm struggling to understand the AI doomerism running rampant through my inner circles and with tech workers in general. Maybe it's the recent layoffs—or maybe these doomers respect schmucks like Zuck and believe it's game over for developers.
Whatever it is, I don't like it.
The Death of Innovation?
I left the music industry because the passion for innovation and creativity was dead. The transition to tech was incredible—everyone was buzzing, collaborating, breaking rules, and pushing the limits just to see what's possible...
PLEASE don't let that slip away!
We are living in the future we always dreamed about, and rather than enjoying it, many of you appear to be bowing down to the Jira Gods saying "thank you, may I have another?" WTF, man?!
What kind of "technologist" are you?
The Reformed Developer Syndrome
Let me guess... you've matured and perfected your craft—you see the light. You take back everything negative you ever said about Agile, SCRUM, stand-ups, and ... now you're on a mission to tell the world that AI is bad and you refuse to use it.
I hope you'll reconsider.
Don't throw away the years you've poured into tech fighting a losing battle. I'm not trying to convince you to get that jQuery tramp stamp covered up just yet (although a nice, American Traditional Claude Code terminal tat would be a pretty slick cover-up), BUT I am asking you to ask yourself: what happened to the old you? What happened to the kid who took things apart to figure out how they worked and then built something new with the pieces when you couldn't put it back together?
Embrace the New Era
In all seriousness, this new era is not so new anymore. Like it or not—it's here to stay. If you are still hand-crafting every line of code, clinging to the old ways... you will be left behind. This isn't about AI replacing your genius; it's an opportunity to use a very powerful tool to be more efficient and spark new ideas.
You don't even have to vibe code. I mean, you should... but you don't have to... and if/when you do, vibe responsibly. Let AI handle the grunt work so you can stop being a code monkey and build what you want—faster than ever before possible.
From Skeptic to Believer
I'll admit, two years ago, I was a skeptic. A big one. But that skepticism was short-lived. It never stopped me from diving in, pushing the limits of LLMs and dev tools. And let me tell you, that dedication to learning and exploring? It's paying off big time now... and more importantly, it was a lot of fun.
The Elephant in the Room
Look, I'm not naive. I get why some of you are spooked. The concerns about AI aren't all FUD—some are legitimate as hell. Yes, jobs will change. Yes, there's a lot of garbage AI-generated code floating around. And yes, we need to talk about bias, privacy, and the environmental cost of training these models.
But here's the thing: opting out isn't protecting you from these problems—it's guaranteeing you'll be a casualty of them.
The developers who will thrive aren't the ones hiding from AI or the ones using it blindly. They're the ones learning to wield it responsibly, understanding its limitations, and staying human in the loop. They're setting the standards for quality AI-assisted code. They're building the guardrails. They're ensuring that when AI does change our industry, it amplifies human creativity rather than replacing it.
You want to fight for ethical AI?
Great. Do it from the inside, with your hands on the tools, not from the sidelines with your arms crossed. It shows you do truly care and you gave it a fair shot before attacking it.
AI Isn't Your Junior Developer
Maybe you're turned off because every 'AI bro' out there is trying to convince you it's like having an amazing junior developer at your beck and call. Honestly, those folks have probably never shipped anything or worked on a product with real users.
Truly experienced devs know that while junior developers benefit from working on a team, senior developers often get less done and have more on their plate after mentoring and assigning work. I'm not saying it's negative; mentoring juniors is crucial for the industry, preparing them to be the seniors of the future. It just doesn't directly benefit the senior developer's immediate output. And that's okay. I'm not ashamed to say it because when I was starting out, I broke production. I royally screwed up many repos, and at least twice, I did so much damage there was no coming back.
AI is not like this. (unless you're careless)
Don't listen to the loudest people in the room.
Clone Yourself, Not Your Problems
IMO, the way you should look at using AI coding agents is more like an opportunity to clone yourself. How many times have you said, "There's only one of me..." when the PM is asking for a feature launch leading into the holidays? Or "There are not enough hours in the day"? Or "I'm overworked and underpaid"?
If you learn to master the art of the prompt and start orchestrating agents, you'll never feel like that again. You can end your workday at 5 PM and let the agents continue working while you sleep.
The Path Forward
It's not going to be an overnight thing—you'll need to invest time at the beginning to put the processes in place, set the guardrails, and find the workflow that works. But once you get that dialed in, I promise you'll never look back. In fact, I'm willing to bet you'll find your passion for building things again and do more than you ever have before... or at least that's my hope for you.
(Now go vibe code something, trash it — and start figuring out how to make AI work for you.)
P.S. If you think I'm all talk, wait until you see what I've been building...
Til next time - be well.
