With all the buzz around AI in software engineering—copilots, replacements, ethics, and existential dread—there’s one thing folks keep forgetting:
Your code isn’t better than you.
And AI sure as hell isn’t gonna make it better on its own.
Yeah, it can help you write code. Maybe even write a test.
But you still have to ask yourself:
- Is this testing the thing that actually matters?
- Or is it just giving me a green checkmark and a false sense of comfort?
Because let’s be honest: bad tests can feel mighty reassuring. Especially the ones that always pass. Like a smoke alarm that chirps politely while your kitchen’s on fire.
And if you’re the kind of developer who plays Stack Overflow roulette, regularly copy-pasta-ing code snippets from somewhere out there on the interwebs, AI’s not here to stop you.
It’ll hand you fresh code generated from all those copy-pasta snippets with a smile, whisper “You got this,” and quietly slip it into your repo like it’s doing you a favor.
Skip the context? Skip the tests? Don’t think through the workflow?
AI won’t blink.
It’ll just help you do it faster.
It’ll streamline bad habits with the efficiency of a caffeinated Twitter bot.
It’ll help you repaint a crumbling house and admire how shiny the walls look—right before the whole thing falls over.
But—used well—it’s an incredible tool.
You can ask it to explain gnarly code.
You can talk through logic and ask it questions about things you wrote last month and have already forgotten about.
Sometimes it can help you spot bugs before they bite.
But that takes intent and thoughtfulness. It takes professional judgment.
It takes remembering that your tools won’t make you a better engineer… unless you want to be one.
Because at the end of the day, your code still reflects you.
And your code will never be better than you are.