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In a personal essay published July 13, 2026, developer Adam – The Developer describes being able to review AI-written code but hesitating when asked to recreate a familiar Go HTTP handler from scratch. His account raises a useful question for developers using AI: are you still practicing the parts of programming you want to be able to do yourself?
What happened when the author tried to write code without AI?
Adam – The Developer says he began using AI around mid-2024 and let it write much of his code. Later, when he sat down to write a Go HTTP handler from scratch, he found himself unsure how to register a route and start the server. He could recognize and review familiar patterns, but could not readily reconstruct the handler from memory.
That experience is the personal account at the center of his essay, “I Could Review It. I Couldn’t Write It.” It is a distinction he noticed in his own work, not a controlled test of developers or proof that AI use causes skill loss.
Why can reviewing code feel different from writing it?
Reviewing a finished solution gives you something concrete to inspect: you can follow its structure, identify a familiar pattern, or notice a problem. Writing from a blank page asks you to choose that structure and produce the details yourself. In the essay, the author found that being able to assess a handler did not guarantee he could recreate it from memory.
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This is the author’s interpretation of his experience, not evidence that recognition and production are separate, measured abilities for every developer. It does, however, point to a practical distinction in how programmers use AI: accepting or critiquing generated code is not the same activity as attempting the implementation themselves.
How did he change his approach to using AI?
A few months before publishing, Adam says he began writing distributed-systems algorithms in Go from scratch without AI, then asking AI to review his work. He gives two reasons: he wanted to strengthen his Go skills, and he wanted to develop algorithm explanations that accounted for edge cases and failure modes.
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- Choose a skill to practice. The author selected Go and distributed-systems algorithms because those were areas he wanted to strengthen.
- Make an attempt before prompting AI. He writes the algorithm himself rather than asking AI to produce the first version.
- Use AI as a reviewer afterward. In his approach, AI can help critique work the developer has already tried to build.
- Pay attention to the reasoning. The author values the mistakes, debugging, and trade-offs involved in building a solution, not just the finished code.
This is one person’s practice, not a proven program or a guarantee of improvement. The essay does not compare AI tools or prescribe a schedule.
Does the essay argue that developers should stop using AI?
No. The author says he uses AI, values code review, and sees AI as a thinking partner. His point is to make deliberate choices about which engineering abilities to keep exercising, rather than treating every task as something to outsource or, at the other extreme, rejecting AI altogether.
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He also says reliance on existing solutions predates generative AI: he recalls Stack Overflow, copied frameworks, and tutorials as earlier ways developers could lean on work already done by others. That observation helps frame his concern as a broader question about practice and dependence, not a claim unique to AI.
What can this personal account establish—and what can’t it?
The essay documents the author’s own experience and explains why he chose to practice by writing code before asking AI to review it. It does not include a named statistic, quantified study, or controlled comparison. It therefore cannot establish how common his experience is, whether AI caused it, or whether developers’ skills generally decline when they use AI.
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The author uses examples involving PostgreSQL’s engineering history and an agent-assisted rewrite using Rust to illustrate his views. Those examples are part of his argument; the essay does not independently establish claims about the rewrite’s architecture or performance benefits.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How can you apply the idea to your own coding?
Start with the ability you personally want to retain—perhaps implementing a familiar handler, tracing a failure, or accounting for algorithm edge cases. For a task that matters to that goal, make a genuine first attempt before asking AI to generate the answer. Then use AI to challenge your reasoning, surface overlooked cases, or review the implementation. For routine work where practicing that skill is not the priority, you may choose a different workflow.
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The essay’s closing question captures its challenge: “The question isn’t whether you can write without AI. The question is: Will you?” Adam’s line, “The skills you practice will grow. The skills you outsource will weaken,” is the argument of a personal essay—not a statistical finding.
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