Why Senior Devs Ship 2.5x More AI Code (And What We Can Learn From It)
A recent Fastly survey found that senior developers ship 2.5x more AI-generated code than juniors. This isn't surprising. Experience helps you quickly spot bad code and trust the good parts.
But AI is not a magic fix for productivity. The time saved writing code is often spent on validation and debugging subtle issues. The survey confirms this, noting the biggest benefit for now is higher developer morale, as AI handles the boring tasks.
To use AI effectively, I treat it as a junior partner, not an expert. My workflow is simple:
- Plan First: I brainstorm with the AI, making it explain the implementation plan before any code is written.
- Break It Down: We implement in small, testable phases. I have the AI write unit tests for its own functions or test API endpoints to verify the output. I then validate the results and the parts the AI can't test itself before we proceed.
- Constant Oversight: I monitor the process closely. If something feels off, I stop, ask for clarification, and guide it back on track.
This simple process greatly reduces the chance of complex bugs later. This is critical because junior developers often can't spot bad code or tell whether an AI's approach is sound. They lack the experience to know when the tool is going down the wrong path.
An experienced developer's role is to provide that judgment. The most important skill is shifting from simply writing code to effectively directing the tools that do. This is where experience really shows.
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