Programming

Here is a rewrite of this stream of consciousness that an LLM helped with which might be more palatable. I am neurodivergent and stream of consciousness is my bag, writing isn’t. So LLMs have massive utility for here.

I get where you’re coming from, but honestly, that’s not been my experience at all. I’ve used LLMs both at home and at work, and while they’re not magic, they’re absolutely useful—especially if you already know what you’re doing and want to skip the repetitive or boilerplate stuff.

At home, for example, I set up a Docker-based media server. I’ve done it before, but using the LLM meant I didn’t have to dive into docs or endless Google threads. It saved time and frustration.

At work, we use an internal tool powered by an LLM to generate the standard boilerplate we always need in enterprise apps. So when we add a new model in C#, it auto-generates the typical queries, mutations, GraphQL setup, and React admin pages. Just saving that hour or so per model adds up—on a project with 30+ models, that’s a whole week of dev time. And since it caches results unless the model changes, it’s fast and reliable (though yeah, sometimes it messes up the DB table file and we rerun it).

It’s also great for common patterns—like useMemo for filtering dropdowns in React. I can write it manually or copy it from somewhere else, but why not just add a comment like // filtered clients and let it handle it? Same with array sorting. I know how, but my time is better spent on the harder stuff.

And that’s the key point: LLMs free up brain space. They don’t replace learning or experience. I had to integrate with Sage using the Intacct SDK recently—had no clue where to start. The LLM helped me explore the API, figure out how to get Reporting Periods, Nominals, etc., and build a small test app. Once I understood it, then I integrated it into the product.

It accelerates my learning, and my boss—who is ridiculously smart and built this whole system—can spend his time on the harder problems instead of walking me through step-by-step. Even he uses LLMs, and if someone of his calibre is doing that, I see no reason not to.

LLMs aren’t doing the work for me. They’re just making me more efficient, especially on the stuff I already know how to do. And they help me ramp up quicker when learning something new.