I agree you need to know what you’re doing. But Claude Code is definitely better than I am at some things- probably the most important of which is starting some mundane task that I would otherwise procrastinate indefinitely.
It’s very good at Typescript, search, and research, but still does stupid stuff and requires review and steering.
I don’t get into the same flow while using it, either, but I think that might be a matter of time. I find it allows me to spend more of my time thinking at a higher level. I could see myself learning to really enjoy that. Code review is exhausting, though, and has always been my least favorite aspect of the job. It seems my future is going to be code-review-heavy, and that is probably the biggest drawback.
I know approximately nothing about approximately everything. Claude seems pretty good at those things. But in every case I’ve used Claude Code for something I do know about it’s been unsatisfactory as a solo operator. It’s not useless, but it is basically useless for anything serious unless you’re very actively guiding it.
I think it has a lot of potential value and will become more useful over time, but it’ll be most useful when we can confidently understand the limitations.
I know a lot about Typescript and its ecosystem. I’ve taught it to students, and worked on it at companies whose names you’d recognize. Claude Code is better than I am at some things that I know deeply, in some cases. It does stupid things on occasion (like use global mutable state), but it is still more useful than not. So, I guess it depends on how you define “better”, but I’ve learned things I didn’t know, and it allows me to do projects and experiments that I’d otherwise be too lazy to do.
It’s very good at Typescript, search, and research, but still does stupid stuff and requires review and steering.
I don’t get into the same flow while using it, either, but I think that might be a matter of time. I find it allows me to spend more of my time thinking at a higher level. I could see myself learning to really enjoy that. Code review is exhausting, though, and has always been my least favorite aspect of the job. It seems my future is going to be code-review-heavy, and that is probably the biggest drawback.