Traditional Code Assistants

Al👨

Fresh Comp-Sci grad

• Well-read
• Enthusiastic
• Confident

Al👨

Fresh Comp-Sci grad

• Well-read
• Enthusiastic
• Confident

• No practical experience
• No broad understanding of the problem
• Won't say "I can't do it"

Mostly copy-pastes stuff that looks right off Stack Overflow

AI🤖

Claude Code/Gemini/Cursor

• Well-read
• Enthusiastic
• Confident

• No practical experience
• No broad understanding of the problem
• Won't say "I can't do it"

Functionally copy-pastes stuff that looks right off Stack Overflow

You Are A Manager

👨‍💻

↑

👨

🧑‍🔬

↑

🤖

How Does Industry Do It?

Summary

• Clear spec
• Test driven development
  • Tests written by senior staff
  • In this context, you write tests manually
  • Python - Hypothesis?
  • Don't ask AI to write code you don't already know the answer to
  • ALWAYS VERIFY
• Don't ask subordinates to write things you couldn't write yourself

What If I Just Vibe It?

Summary

• 1:10:100 design/build/run error fixing
  • Not knowing what to ask sets you up for a problem
• LLM stuff is 80% OK, 15% subtly wrong, 5% wildly wrong
  • You might spot the 5% but miss the 15%
• You'll screw over your collaborators
  • Damages your reputation!
  • Risk retractions