AI won't steal our jobs, it'll 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 them !

Honestly, I was curious. A while back, I started weavingCursor, the AI code editor, into my daily development routine. It wasn't magic overnight – felt a bit like having a super-fast, sometimes slightly unpredictable pair programmer at first.

But now? It's genuinely shifting how I spend my time.

• 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱: It's brilliant at handling boilerplate, spinning up unit tests, and refactoring code blocks that used to drain my energy. Understanding tangled legacy code feels less daunting with its help.

• 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸: It's definitely 𝘯𝘰𝘵 autonomous. I'm still the engineer firmly in the driver's seat, constantly reviewing, guiding, and catching those moments where the AI gets a bit... creative (let's call them 'hallucinations' 😉).

This experience, in my opinion, makes the "Helping us do more, not replacement" argument very clear. Tools like Cursor are helping me free up my mental space by taking on some of the repetitive heavy lifting.

For example, in my codebase, I have made multiple common components (like custom Buttons, Cards, Modals, etc.). Previously, I'd have to remember the exact import path and type it out every time I used one. Now, I can just give the AI assistant context within my project, saying something like, "Add our standard Card component here and put a primary Button inside it." The AI understands which components I mean based on my codebase, generates the JSX to use them, and automatically adds the correct import statements at the top of the file. It handles that tedious, error-prone step for me.

Because of this kind of assistance, I've noticed that I'm spending more time designing systems, solving challenging user issues, and strategically considering why we're building what we build, rather than battling with syntax or boilerplate like managing imports.

It feels like our jobs are changing. Less time just typing code, more time solving bigger problems and designing solutions, with AI as a helpful tool.

What about you? Are you using AI tools like Cursor, Copilot, etc.? How are they changing your daily work as a developer?