To code or not code ?

That is the question I ask myself now several times a day! I have a fairly long list of tickets on my docket across several projects. A few Sentry issues, adding new functionality to several Next.js projects. Migrating some leftover functions from my Django backend to FastAPI. There is even a C# project running on Azure that has a wishlist :).

So every morning after I put my hand in the bowl and pick an item to work on I consider my options. Is this one for Devin? He will code, run the app locally, test and deliver a PR. And as long as my GitHub tree was clean when I started I can easily review and merge. I love Devin for building new stuff, especially on existing Next.js projects. And probably because Next.js is not my favorite coding environment. I prefer Python’s elegance. So for my backend apps I often consider using Cursor (including the new agent version) to let it do a few things while I plan the testing with Postman or writing some of the AI prompts needed within the code. Cursor is nicely hands on - it’s more like pair programming with a slightly schizophrenic coder, who vacillates between brilliance and unwarranted overconfidence. 

But some days I feel more like getting my hands dirty doing the actual coding. I still like the satisfaction of creating something. I remember the first code I ever wrote - churning out a list of prime numbers at an ever slowing pace. I remember the first useful code I wrote. Software that people would pay for and run their small business on. One early customer told me ‘you gave us back our life’! The PC, printer and my software replaced days of writing orders by hand and using calculators. 

As the AI coders are getting better - and they are still getting better, fast - I can see how ‘I must code this myself’ will soon be nothing but a sign of procrastination, mixed with a bit of nostalgia. A sign of longing back to the days of enjoying the creative process of translating specs into functions and classes, methods and expressions. The pride of looking at clean, efficient, resilient code. Code that you can build other code upon. Code that will run day in and out - changing peoples lives. In the last three months I estimate that 70% of ‘my’ code was actually code I prompted an AI to write. We’ll probably end the year with 90% given the pace of improvement.

I’m not sad - just a little nostalgic, some days. Because to code or not to code, won't be a question any more very soon.