ARTICLE 02
AI Was Writing Code Faster Than I Could Understand It
How I changed the way I use AI in software development
October 20, 2026 / 4 min read
Artificial intelligence has become an important part of my work as a software developer. It has helped me move faster, solve problems, and handle tasks that used to take much longer.
But at first, I made a mistake that affected the way I worked.
I would ask AI to build an entire feature in one step. Within minutes, it could create and modify several files and produce hundreds of lines of code.
At first, that felt impressive. The problem appeared later, when I needed to change the feature or fix a bug. I would find myself facing many files and a long execution flow that was difficult to follow—even though I was responsible for the project.
What did the experience teach me?
I realized that writing code faster does not necessarily mean developing software faster, especially when I do not understand the implementation well enough.
I started changing how I work with AI:
- Think first: understand the problem, study the solution, and define how the feature should work before implementation begins.
- Plan, then direct: explain the requirements and intended design instead of delegating every decision.
- Break the work down: divide the feature into small stages and complete one stage at a time.
- Review the code: understand and test every change before moving to the next stage.
Conclusion
This approach lets me benefit from AI's speed while preserving my understanding and control of the codebase.
The real value of AI is not the amount of code it can produce. Its value comes from using it to execute well-considered solutions efficiently.
AI can help me write code, but thinking through the solution, making engineering decisions, and understanding what is being built remain my responsibility as a developer.
The goal is not only to write code faster, but to build software I understand, maintain, and evolve with confidence.