It was more fun before AI

Max introduces his complex, 'two-hearted' perspective on Artificial Intelligence, noting that while he remains bullish on the technology, he harbors mixed feelings. He acknowledges his public persona as an AI advocate who creates courses on tools like Claude Code and Cursor. From a career standpoint, he argues that developers must master these tools to remain competitive in the current job market. Employers now expect a level of speed and productivity that is difficult to achieve without AI assistance. This section establishes the tension between professional necessity and personal sentiment that defines the rest of the discussion.

The speaker details how he uses AI for major projects like relaunching websites and building internal tools while maintaining strict human oversight. He shares a specific anecdote about using a coding agent to create a script that inverted his mouse wheel settings on a Mac. This example illustrates how AI can solve 'utility' problems that a developer might not have the time or interest to solve manually. However, he warns that using AI as a constant shortcut can lead to a decline in personal skill and knowledge. He balances the excitement of these enabling tools with the looming danger of intellectual stagnation.

Max expresses a deep sense of sadness regarding how AI has diminished his genuine enjoyment of writing code and learning new frameworks. He reminisces about the unique satisfaction of solving a difficult problem after sleeping on it or thinking about it in the shower. With AI, that sense of ownership over the solution and the 'art of crafting code' feels largely diminished or gone entirely. He argues that the process was never just about the end product, but about the intrinsic pleasure of the work itself. This section highlights the emotional toll that automation takes on passionate professionals who value the journey over the destination.

The discussion pivots to how a developer's daily workflow has shifted from writing and improving code to writing specs and reviewing AI-generated plans. Max explains that his work now consists of steering AI, correcting its output, and ensuring it doesn't write meaningless unit tests. He describes this shift as moving toward the administrative and managerial tasks he intentionally avoided earlier in his career. This transformation is particularly frustrating for those who entered the field to 'work in the trenches' rather than perform code reviews. It marks a fundamental change in the identity of the software developer in the AI era.

In the concluding segment, Max emphasizes that despite his negative feelings, AI is here to stay and cannot be ignored by professionals. He compares manual coding in the age of AI to using a typewriter—possible as a hobby, but inefficient for professional work. He commits to continuing his educational work, focusing both on AI tools and the essential programming fundamentals that remain relevant. He invites his audience to share their own feelings about this technological revolution, acknowledging that we are all navigating an uncertain future. Ultimately, he resolves to find new ways to extract joy from this evolved method of building software.